


Weird Science

by iterations



Series: The Anxious Nerdy Predator Scientist [1]
Category: Alien vs Predator (2004), Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Predator (Yautja) & Related Fandoms, Predator (Yautja) - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Abduction, Dubious Ethics, Enthusiastic Consent, Eventual Smut, Exophilia, F/M, First Time, Incel - Freeform, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Language Barrier, Loss of Virginity, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Pining, Scientist/Specimen, Slow Burn, Teratophilia, Xenophilia, culture clash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-07 10:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 37,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iterations/pseuds/iterations
Summary: An alien scientist abducts a human to experiment on, but their relationship eventually progress into something more than scientist and specimen.
Relationships: Yautja (Predator)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Anxious Nerdy Predator Scientist [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638379
Comments: 169
Kudos: 236





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this has been done umpteen times but I couldn't help myself to pitch in a contribution. As you probably will be able to tell, Tak'aetl is not the typical Alpha or Omega hunter we know and love. He is a little bit different, but I hope you will come to like him!

~[Malin's POV]~

“And there's the heart. It's ticking nicely. And the head looks shapely as far as I can tell at such an early stage.” The gynecologist smiles and moves around the probe inside my vagina. Am I a horrible person for being disappointed at that? I probably am. It's just shitty timing. I moved back home to Minnesota to start a doctorate at Bemidji State University a couple of weeks ago. Richard decided to stay in San Fransisco and we had made a clean break up. No long distance relationships at our age. The gynecologist must have seen my frown because she pulled the thing out of me and tilted her head, looking condescendingly at me. 

“There's still plenty of time to decide what you want to do. But if you want to, I can book an appointment for termination for you right away.”

“Wait, hold on just a sec. I need to think.”

“Just call my secretary when you know how to proceed.” She smiled again at me and added. “The sooner you decide, the better though. For your sake. But remember your age.”

My age was the last thing I wanted to remember and I sighed and climbed down from the chair. My panties and jeans were tucked away behind a folding screen and I could put my clothes back on in privacy.

“Thank you, bye.” I hurriedly mumbled and fled the clinic. I just wanted to forget the whole thing and continue on with my life, but that would be a terrible decision wouldn't it? I just had no clue what to do... Thinking about it made my head hurt.

At least this weekend I would give myself some respite from the problem. I had signed up as a scout leader almost as soon as I moved back to Bemidji. When I was little there were only girl scout- and boy scout groups but nowadays there were mixed gender groups also, which to me, felt a little more progressive. The Lutheran work ethic and piety was still pretty much fused to the scout laws, though. 

We were going to camp in Bemidji state park. 4 girls, 3 boys, me and another leader; Howard. He was 25, a little young but a good kid. He had promised to pick up all the camping gear from the scout lodge while I would take care of rations. 

I drove to the supermarket and started to botanize among the shelves. The kids were only 8-10 years old and couldn't carry more than their sleeping gear so we couldn't bring too many things with us. I put some lentils, potatoes and onions in my basket. A few cubes of broth for flavor. Bread and peanut butter. Hopefully no one was allergic. I covered my back with a jar of strawberry jam. If anyone was allergic to that too they would have to eat the sandwich dry. I also picked up a bag of marshmallows on my way to the cashier. I paid for my goods and put the bag into the trunk of my car. 

My apartment was in a walking distance from the university. Ok, almost everything was in a walking distance in my home town, but you get the picture. I didn't have a view of the lake from my apartment. It would cost to much, but the area was leafy and sparsely trafficked. I loved it.

I woke up early the next day and packed by rucksack. The food stuff were still in my car. Outside was a comfortable 'slightly over refrigerator' temperature. This would be the last camping trip for the season and I'm happy I didn't miss out. 

I met up with Howard at the start of the trail about 30 minutes before the parents would drop off their kids.

“Hey, Howard!” He was already packed out and ready to go. I loved his enthusiasm.

“Hi Malin!” He waved at me and came to my car to help me unpack my gear. It became a bit uncomfortable with the silence so I looked around us and shaded my eyes with my hand.

“Looks like the weather is going to be nice!” 

“Yeah. The last time we were out it rained the entire first day and we had to get home early. Everyones' sleeping bags were soaked!” He chuckled and rubbed a zit he had right under the corner of his mouth.

I could relate to that and joined his laughter. There wasn't much else to talk about so I lumbered off to look at the tents he had brought from the lodge. 

“Are you gonna run the Blue Ox next week Howard?” I was pretty sure he wouldn't, but hey. I needed something to talk about.

“No. I'm more a trekking kind of guy.” He said and looked a bit embarrassed. “Are you gonna run?”

“Yeah, I've run the full marathon every year for.. I guess 9 years now.”

“Wow, that's awesome.” He nodded and continued to stuff the tents into a large bag.

The kids began to arrive. Some of them were car pooling and some were dropped off alone. Everyone kept the scheduled pretty nicely. The spot where we were going to set up camp was only 3 miles ahead. The scouts were young and couldn't carry their packs for longer distances.

The camping spot was basically on the other side of Lake Bemidji from the university. I helped Howard to pitch the tent and we organized some games for the kids to engage in before it was time to start the fire. This was the best part of being outdoors. There wasn't a scout that didn't love to start a fire. The kids all wanted to grill marshmallows right away. I suspect at least two of them only stay in the scouts because of the marshmallows. 

“Who wants to cut the kindle?” I asked and picked out Emily and Kevin from the volunteers. They gripped their knives and started to carve on the pieces of wood I gave them. Their knives had crossguards, to protect from any unwanted injuries. Not many of the kids had received their knife skills badge yet. 

I decide to go for a little walk down to the lake to fetch some water. A scout always had at least one bucket of water ready before they started a fire. 

It is quiet at the lake. Eerily quiet. Not even the birds sing, but I suppose birds sing more during spring? Not in October.

I put the bucket into the water and fill it. Then climb back up on the rock and into the forest. It's still quiet but suddenly I hear a soft rustle behind me. I turn around and everything becomes dark.

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

We landed in a forest on the northern hemisphere. Neh'seai and I turned on our cloaking devices and disembarked the ship. This wasn't an ordinary hunt. It was cold as pauk here. Luckily my netting was keeping my body warm and at least Neh'seai was great at procuring specimens. We split up and decided to meet back at the ship before dawn. 

We had stopped in several other places on the blue planet to procure specimens for the lab. There is a short list of interesting species in this forest that we need to take back with us. Many of them are nocturnal and I decide to wait and observe in a pine near the lake. That's when I see the ooman down at the watering hole filling her water sack. I knew from before that oomans were plentiful on this planet. Unfortunately they weren't on the procurement list. However I've always wanted to keep one in the lab. 

This one looks warily around herself when she starts to ascend the rock. I follow her for a while, jumping from tree to tree. That's when I catch the scent. She is carrying a pup. That settles it and I jump down carefully not to frighten her. I'm not the best at hunting, if I have to be honest. She hears my descent and starts to turn around. I punch her lightly in the head and she goes down. Score one for Tak'aetl! 

I carry her back to our ship and put her in one of the cages. Then I head back out to catch something that's on the list.

In the morning I return to the ship with a white owl. Neh'seai has caught a wolverine. Of course she has caught the animal at the top of our list. Pauking female. But I'm her superior and I growl at her when she clicks mockingly at my catch.

We walk inside the ship and we place our specimens into their cages. Neh'seai sees my ooman specimen and snarls at me.

“This wasn't on the list, Tak'aetl!”

“I'm your superior. I do what I want!” I countered and puffed up my chest to show her that I wasn't afraid of her.

She clicked and looked at the ooman. “I suppose there are tests we can run on her and make her useful.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I countered and my colleague and I started to prepare for the long journey home.


	2. Chapter 2

~[Malin's POV]~

I wake up inside some sort of coop. The walls are transparent in a material that looks similar to plexiglas. The room is rather large with dim lighting coming from somewhere above. I can't see any fluorescent tubes or lamps, the light just seem to appear out of nowhere. I try to stand up, but hit my head on the roof of my pen. It's humid and incredibly warm in here. My hair is plastered to my head and small beads of sweat cover my entire face and neck. I realize I'm still wearing my outdoor clothes and I quickly strip off my beanie and coat. My hiking pants feel sticky against my legs but I'll be damned if I'm gonna strip to my panties in this jail.

I look around my cage and notice there are several similar coops next to mine. On my left I can see a couple of bats flying around and bumping against the walls of their cage. On the floor of the cage there is a dead bat and my stomach turns slightly. I look to my right and immediately regret to do so! I struggle to discern what kind of _thing_ it is in the coop next to mine, but it's smeared against the glass on my side and a small tube is wiggling and almost probing against the glass. Its face (is it a face really?) is more similar to a vagina than a face and it has a tail that wags in excitement or to keep balance, I can't tell. I hope the glass is strong enough to keep it inside because I would _not_ like to be in the same cage as _that_! 

Further away I hear a soft 'swoosh' and two other things walk inside the room. They are monstrous! Yet there is still something vaguely humanoid about their appearance. Both are incredibly tall and muscular. One is almost a head taller than the other with brownish skin and red stripes covering it's upper arms and abdomen. Christ! The thing must be closer to 7,5 feet tall! The smaller one has pitch black skin. Both have dread like appendages growing from their huge skulls and their faces are flat with big insectoid looking eyes. They are carrying something that they put inside the coops. Probably more animals by the looks of it.

I cower when they walk towards my cage. They communicate with each other. A chittering sound spiced with clicks that doesn't sound human at all! Finally they move away and begin to do something in the opposite side of the room. Their backs are turned against me and I pinch my arm hard. This has got to be a nightmare. 

They turn around and come my way. My God, please don't let them take me! I'm trembling with fear and it feels as if my heart is in my throat. When they walk past me to one of the other cages I can't help to exhale with a long sigh. They are carrying a furry animal and putting it on a table with some sort of hood over it. The hood starts to flash and beep. Is it some kind of x-ray machine? I guess it could be worse. At least hey hadn't started to dissect us yet.

I look at the _thing_ next to my cage again and decide to call it a 'pussy-spider'. It looks incredibly alien to me. Are the monsters that took me also alien? The machine stops to beep and they put the animal back in its cage. 

The huge monsters put their hands on their faces and start to peel them off. I realize that they are wearing masks and when I see their real faces behind the masks I instantly wish that they would put them back on again because, shit, they are ugly.

They start to walk towards my cage again. There is no doubt in my mind what their intentions are when their piercing yellow eyes drill into mine. They speak in that weird language of theirs again and one of them opens my cage and grabs my arms while the other injects a fluid into my arm. I blink once, twice. Then everything turns black again. 

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Neh'seai was programming the scanner to examine the wolverine while I prepared the tranquilizer. We always got the best images when the subject was immobile. 

“I still have to object to you taking the ooman aboard the ship. It is tarei’hasan. Nothing in it will provide us with any use. We should focus on the specimens on the list.”

She was of course right. Our species had taken several oomans before and although they are intelligent and on the top of the food chain on their planet, there was nothing extraordinary about any of their traits. They weren't particularly strong or fast. Their eyesight and sense of smell were mediocre at best. I doubt I would find anything fit for the hybridization program in her genome, but still, I was fascinated.

“We should let the u’darahje sit on her face. It would be interesting to see if the pregnancy has any effect on the traits of the kiande amedha.” Neh'seai looked up from the screen and turned her head towards me.

”I won't let you waste my ooman on such a pointless experiment, Neh'seai! We know very well what kind of z'skvy-de the ooman will gestate.”

“Oh, it's _your_ ooman is it? Why is it then that you capitalize on _my_ specimens?” 

Well, she had a point, but this was different! “Should we ask N'ke-dal so turn back the ship to let you hunt an ooman for yourself?”

“I don't want a pauk-de ooman for myself!” If she would have been unmasked I'm sure her mandibles would have flared in pure outrage. 

We were done with the preparation and I walked to the cage with the wolverine and injected the tranquilizer. It fell asleep immediately and I opened the cage and carried it to the examination table. Neh'seai started the scanner. Wolverines were interesting to us because despite being a pretty small predator they showed incredible ferocity and could bring down opponents much bigger than themselves. The scanner flashed and beeped, providing us with footage and information about everything from skeletal constitution to brain activity.

When we were done I carried it back to the cage. Some animals seemed distressed despite the calming agent we dosed them with. Most of the time pheromones were enough to keep them calm and not hurt themselves but some specimens required injections. The temperature in the room was probably excruciating to the arctic species, so I started a fan of cold air above some of the cages to make them stay alive. 

I took off my mask and Neh'seai did the same. We didn't need them to continue our work. Taking the eyesight from owls was one of the first things we did in the hybridization program. Before, all we could see was heat signatures, which was great for hunting but now many more options were available to us and we could switch to infra-red, ultra-violet and bird sight without even wearing our masks.

“Neh'seai, will you assist me when tranquilizing the ooman female?”

“As you wish, Tak'aetl.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This might be a bit out of canon but I didn't give them any translators. Trust me, it'll be better without them.  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

The ooman female was very susceptible to the sleeping agent and we didn't need to dose her twice, as we sometimes do with the larger specimens. I pick her up and carry her to the examination table. Her skin is covered in perspiration. To me, it seems like a bothersome way to regulate body temperature. Oomans have more sweat glands than imaginable compared to other species, even other mammals. We're not bothering ourselves with saving her clothes and just cut them off and send them away for incineration. Clothes can carry disease. 

I knew from before that ooman physiology differs very much from our species. Their bodies are soft and squishy, especially the females. How they survive without any protection is beyond my comprehension. They store fat everywhere which is a sign of a bad hunter. Yautja have no need of storing fat on our bodies. If we are hungry, we hunt. None has ever starved to death as far as I know.

I start the scanner and our suspicion is confirmed immediately - she's carrying a small pup. Her mammaries look swollen. I wonder if there is milk in them already, but Neh'seai will flip out if I touch them. Better wait until she is not standing next to me. Sometimes I wish her heat cycle would begin and I wouldn't have her poking her mandibles in my business all the time. At least then she doesn't visit the laboratory and would be out looking for a mate instead. She wouldn't try to mate me, no Yautja female would ever consider me as a mate anyway. I never bothered trying to mate with anyone since Yautja females are always looking for a partner that can match their strength. I don't need to spar with Neh'seai to know that she would kick my ass, and then there's the little detail that she hates my guts. 

The scanner beeps and tells us that it's all done. Everything we'd want to know about the ooman is in the system now.

“Come on, quit daydreaming and let's get her back into the cage.” Neh'seai snarls irritably. 

Yes, her heat cycle is definitely approaching. She's more irritable than usual, and that's saying a lot.

We let the ooman sleep the drug off and concentrate on the data.

  


~[Malin's POV]~

I wake up in my cage once again. It takes a little while for me to notice that I'm completely naked. The fuckers! I wonder what they did to me. I try to concentrate on my ass to discern if I was probed or not but I don't feel anything. Perhaps I was lucky to be tranquilized during the examination? Because I'm positive they did to me what they did to the other animals in here. 

I'm also starting to feel very thirsty. They haven't given me any food or water since I got here. How long has it been? I have no idea. My coop is empty except for a fur I can rest on. I feel sorry for myself and sulk for several minutes when I see a small creature that looks like a blue monkey in a cage beside the bat-cage, suck on a stem that comes out from the wall. Is this water? I look around my cage and see a similar device on my own wall. There is a little ball at the tip and when I poke it with my fingernail a little water comes out. It's exactly like the hamster water bottle me and my sister had for our hamsters when we were little! God, I miss my sister. We were supposed to have dinner on Friday at our parents house. We decided to try and make it a regular thing once I moved back home to Bemidji, just as in the British TV show - minus the nosy neighbor and the wacky father. Papa! Oh, I miss my parents too... I feel my eyes moistening. I miss my little nephew. I wonder what they'll think happened to me...

The thirst disrupt my musings and I suck on the stem like an animal. It's degrading and I could cry just because of it, but mostly I cry for my family, which I know I will never see again. 

I feel an incredible urge to bang on the glass and scream at the aliens but I'm too afraid to attract their attention. There's no knowing what they would do to me. I get the feeling that my presence is not entirely essential to them and if I make too much trouble they would put me down. 

Now that I've sated my thirst, my stomach is screaming for food. I'm so hungry I feel nauseous, but I don't know it they understand English. What good would it do for me to starve to death in here. I'd rather be killed by the aliens than starve. That's it!

I straighten my back and try not to cover my chest self-consciously. “Hey aliens!” They both turn their heads and look at me. Perhaps they didn't know I was able to speak? 

“I'm hungry. Food.” I rub my belly to accentuate. I hear some chittering and then they turn back to what they were doing.

“Uh, hello again! H.U.N.G.R.Y!” The bigger alien, (is it male or female? I can't tell) walks towards me and tilts its head, looking at me. I rub my belly again to show it what I want. The alien chirps something at the other and the smaller, black alien comes to stand next to the first. 

I rub my belly again (boy, they are slow). “Hungry. F.O.O.D.” The smaller alien also tilts its head at me. I gape and point to my mouth. That seems to make them get the picture. The smaller one chitters and goes to a storage box. It starts to take out eatables. I am presented with a little buffé of something that looks like fruit and pieces of dried meat. 

I sniff the meat but decide to abstain. It has a slightly cured smell. I eat some of the fruit and it is pretty nice. Tangy and not overly sweet. It feels good until my stomach start to rumble and a wave of nausea hits me. I want to retch but the aliens are looking intently at me. My mouth is watering and _shit_, I can't contain myself and I lay a pizza on the floor of my cage.

The aliens growl at me and click their ugly mandibles rapidly. My first reaction is complete terror and I think they're going to kill me, but then I see how their eyes shine, and I get the feeling that they are laughing at me. I suppose it's better to entertain them than anger them. As I stare at the mess I've made, the bottom of my cage suddenly ripples and my barf sinks into it. The only traces of it left is my bad breath! How is it possible?

Despite the nausea I'm still hungry and I eat all the fruit. My stomach decided to keep the sustenance this time and there was no encore. The smaller alien is still watching me. It creeps me out not to know what it's thinking. Luckily it leaves me alone and returns to whatever it's doing on the other side of the room.

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

There's nothing special about the ooman data. She's pretty normal for an ooman, but I have only scratched the surface so far. There might be a lot more to learn about oomans. We are interrupted by noises. The ooman is trying to communicate with us. Neh'seai looks questioningly at me.

“Do you speak ooman? What's she saying?” 

“I don't know. Could be anything.”

We continue to analyze the data and then the ooman interrupts us again.

Neh'seai looks at me and sighs “I'll go see what it is.” 

She walks to the cage. Neh'seai understands the ooman no more than I do and wants me to join her in front of the cage. The ooman is rubbing her belly. Is she concerned for her pup? Then she points to her mouth and I suddenly get it. She's hungry. I quickly take out some food for her. It'll be interesting to see what the ooman eats. She doesn't eat meat but the fruit seems to go down well.

Suddenly her face looks stiff. I can see it getting paler and then she unloads on the floor. Both I and Neh'seai start to laugh -she looks so funny, but then I taste the smell and it's not so funny anymore. Neh'seai walks back to our desk and leaves me with the ooman. I see her tuck into more fruit with her fat lips and I'm compelled to take the food away from her since she only wastes it, but she seems to be able to hold it down this time. 

I need to formulate a plan on what sort of experiments we should begin with first to reach the highest yield with this subject. 

“Tak'aetl, what are you still doing over there? Get to work!” Neh'seai flares her lower mandibles at me and I don't want to get into another discussion with her so I return to what we were doing. _Pauk-de females!_

Soon it's time for our sleep cycle and I wait for Neh'seai to go out first. I don't trust her fully around the ooman. When I'm alone in the lab I dim the lights and lock the door on my way out.


	4. Chapter 4

~[Malin's POV]~

The aliens must have been away for hours now. I'm actually starting to become eager for them to come back. There's nothing to do here inside the cage. All I can do is stare at the other captured animals. The blue monkey-thing is making a ruckus and tries to climb the glass walls in its pen. I notice that the dead bat is still in its cage. The aliens don't check up on their specimens very often do they? Despite that, all the pens look clean. The bottoms of the cages must be self-cleansing, as the one in my coop that swallowed my puke, or else there would be feces on the floors by now. I need to pee but I don't know if I can risk it. What if it doesn't work? I'd rather just use a toilet, or even a hole in the floor!

The pussy-spider seems to have lost interest in me and is lying on the floor of its cage. As I shift and turn my head towards it, it suddenly lunges at me and I have a jump-scare that literally has my heart in my throat. It plasters itself on the wall of its cage and its tube is trying to push trough the glass. I can see that it wants to get inside my coop. As long as that thing is after me I don't think I can ever get any sleep in here. 

The heat is also starting to bother me. I have a constant film of sweat on my skin that I can't seem to shake. It's pretty ironic that I can't stand the heat since I've been taking saunas ever since I was a little girl. My great grandmother – who I'm named after - was from northern Sweden so my family has lived in houses with saunas for generations.

All in all life as a lab rat is pretty miserable, but what can one expect? It could be far worse. I curl up on my fur and lie awake thinking about all the horrible possible ways I could die of in this hellish laboratory before I feel as if my bladder is about to burst. I suppose they _want_ me to pee inside the cage since they haven't given me any bathroom breaks. If the creepy floor doesn't work, then they have their selves to blame, right? I pick up the fur in my arms - just in case - and squat. 

_Hell_, nothing's coming out. I have no problem with peeing outdoors, but peeing on the floor is apparently too taboo even for me. I stand up and try to jog in one place but the cage is too small and the way I have to bend my back while I perform my little 'dance' soon makes it hurt. I close my eyes and try to imagine a babbling brook when I squat again. This time I get some release and the pee sinks into the floor, just like my puke did. _Good_. I don't even want to think about having to perform number two in this pen. 

I put the fur back on the floor and lay myself on top of it. Maybe now I can get some sleep. I have no such luck however and I'm interrupted by the swooshing sound of the doors again. The black alien is back and when it walks in, the lights go on. So much for sleeping. 

It walks right up to my cage and emits a noise that sounds almost approving. I wait for it to go away but to my horror it opens the hatch to my cage instead and I instinctively scoot back against the wall. It just stands there and stares at me again. It lowers its head a bit and stops to look at me, _thank God_. I have no intentions of coming out from the cage. I'm pretty well settled in my coop, thank you! The alien looks at me again and growls. I shriek when it grabs my arm and starts to pull. 

“Please.. please don't..” 

It disregards my pleading completely and drags me out across the lab and through another automatic door. I'm taken inside a smaller room that looks like some kind of storage. It's full of alien appliances. Some small and others bigger than me. The alien grunts at me and shoves me inside a glass cubicle that looks like a tube in shape. It closes the door behind me and I start to bang on the glass. 

”Let me out!” 

My mind wanders to the gas chambers from WW2 and I look up to see if there's any faucets in the ceiling that could pump in gas. The alien lifts its arms up in the air, making itself bigger and I have a smaller heart attack. All I can do is stare in terror until the alien bangs on the glass and does the same pose again. Does it want me to copy it? I hesitantly lift my arms up and watch when the alien pushes a button. 

A short burst of purple light surrounds me inside the tube. I don't feel a thing thankfully, but my body is shaking like a leaf. The alien opens the door and drags me out. What did just happen? At least there wasn't any gas. I try to analyze if anything feels different but I can't think of anything. The alien takes me back inside the lab and when it's about to put me inside my coop again the doors swoosh open and the larger alien walks in. It doesn't acknowledge my presence - to my delight - and goes straight to its colleague and snarls at it. I'm locked inside my coop and the aliens retreat to their desk. The aliens tap on their screens and talk to each other mutedly while I sit back against the wall in my cage. 

I suddenly have an idea, and I smell my own armpits – nothing. Was the thing inside the tube the equivalent of an alien shower? Their technological level staggers me. Apart from the fact that they are my kidnappers, I find myself wishing to be able to talk to them and ask them about how their technology works. 

The smaller alien is looking inside all the cages. It feeds the animals and removes the dead bat from the coop next to mine. Our eyes meet when it passes my cage and I find myself holding my breath. Those cruel yellow eyes bore deep inside of me and I shudder when I once again imagine all the horrible things they could do to me. Dissect me alive being somewhere on top three of the list. Every minute they leave me alone inside this pen is a minute I should treasure. I try to get used to not having anything to do. When the aliens aren't focused on me they are actually pretty entertaining to watch. Sometimes they growl and snarl at each other and I almost anticipate a fist fight to break out. The tension between those two is easy to see even without an understanding of their language. I guess some things are just universal.

The larger alien walks out of the laboratory and as soon as the doors close the black alien appears in front of me and I can see in its eyes that it's up to no good. I scream when it opens the hatch to my cage and grabs me. It puts its large hand over my mouth and my screams turn into muffled whines. It pulls me closer and I feel its chest vibrate against my back. Is it purring? It's useless to fight someone 10 times stronger and I relax into its hold. To my big surprise it lets me go and I follow my first instinct - to make a break for it. I leap forward and begin to run. Not that I know where I can run to, but before I've taken more than a couple of steps the arms are around me again, wrestling me into the middle of the room. The alien pushes me onto the examination table and holds my arms down. I scream again and it snarls in response. What the fuck am I doing, no one is going to help me here. I'm completely at the aliens mercy and I stop to struggle. It's pointless and there's no hope. The alien binds my arms and legs in restraints and I'm belted to the table – a loony in the loony-bin.

My body has stopped to struggle but my heart is still racing a million miles an hour. The alien takes a stick and prods it at my arm. I jolt from chock as it zaps me. It scared me more than hurt, and then the shin of my right leg is next. My thigh gets zapped and then my stomach. The alien puts the rod beside me on the table and I feel large fingertips and claws scrape my stomach. My fear turns into horror as the hand slides up between my breasts and up over my throat. It stops on my jaw and turns my head this way and that. What the hell is it doing? Pure and ice-cold terror grips me as I stare into its beady yellow eyes for what feels like minutes.  


  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

A good night's sleep made me put things into perspective and I have decided to focus on tests involving the ooman skin. Their skin is thin and full of pain receptors. I honestly can't wait to study it, but it's something I want to do in private when Neh'seai isn't lurking over me.

When I enter the laboratory I go straight to check on my ooman. She is awake and well. I can see in the data-box that she has urinated and it's always a good sign when the subjects eat and excrete. Her smell is pungent and I decide to take her to decontamination. Neh'seai has luckily not returned yet or she would have bitten my head off at first sign of a h´dui´se. She's very sensitive. I will probably have to clean the ooman daily with all the sweating she does. 

I open her cage and she crawls back as far away from me as she can. To show her that I'm not a threat I lower my face and eyes to the floor, but she just stares at me with her big ooman eyes. My patience could be better but now isn't the time to work on it, so I grab her and drag her out of the cage screaming. I push her in front of me to the decontamination chamber in the next room. 

Inside the decontamination chamber I push her inside the tube and close the hatch. She starts to bang on the glass and has a fit. When she looks at me I show her how she should stand, straight with her arms over her head. When she doesn't comply I snarl and show her again. She stands up and lifts her arm hesitantly. It's good enough, so I push the button to start the decontamination. It only takes a few heartbeats before it's done and I open the door and take her arm again. Her h´dui´se is weak now and I don't think Neh'seai will become too irritated. We need to feed all specimens and continue with our work. 

When we come back to the laboratory Neh'seai is there and looks suspiciously at me.

“Where have you been?”

“Decontamination.” I push the ooman back into her cage and lock it. 

Neh'seai snorts and walks to the desk. I follow her and we divide up the work for the day. It's my turn to feed the animals, which I do, except the u’darahje. It doesn't eat and will soon die. I know Neh'seai wants it to implant someone before it happens and I need to watch my ooman carefully and convince Neh'seai it's better to use it on another specimen.

One of the bats is dead. I take it out and give it to Neh'seai. “You should dissect it before it spoils.” She takes it and places it on a disc while I look through our wolverine data again. It's hard to focus on it when all I can think of is continuing with my experiments on the ooman, but I have to tell myself that the wolverine data is also important. Our knowledge of it is even more sparse than that of oomans. The morning hours somehow pass and it's time for us to take a break to train and eat.

I barely wait for the doors to close behind Neh'seai before I take the ooman from her cage. She screams again and whimpers pathetically when I cover her mouth to stop her from alerting others to the lab. She's without doubt thinking that I'm going to kill her - which is ridiculous. Only oomans kill other oomans without a reason. I pull her close to my chest and purr to make her relax. It works and she stops struggling. I loosen my grip on her but when I let her go, she bolts. It's easy for me to catch her again and I force her down on the examination table. Better secure her so I can work undisturbed. I contemplate on muffling her as well but she doesn't scream anymore so I decide to wait until it's necessary. 

My first objective is to see how she reacts to electrical stimulation. I don't want to hurt her, never to hurt. Only measure the sensitivity of her skin. I try various places and her thigh is more sensitive than her lower legs and arms. Her stomach is even more sensitive! The epidermis is thin as a leaf and soft. There are follicles everywhere with tiny hairs growing, but more so on the head and above the genital area. I notice that the hairs on her legs are severed and wonder what kind of injury she has sustained to loose them. I wish we spoke the same language and I could ask her what happened. _Don't worry little ooman, you will thrive under my care._

Her skin is so soft and pliant, I can't resist to run my fingers over it. It fascinates me to no end, and I trace her breast bone up, up to her face, and I turn her face on either side to look at her ears. Peculiar little things they are, and then I see her eyes. Her big, expressive, ooman eyes, locking themselves onto mine.


	5. Chapter 5

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

I see the sheer terror in her eyes and freeze. What the _pauk_ am I doing? This was not part of the examination schedule I had devised. My mind turns completely blank. What was I supposed to do? I had it all planned out in my head but now it's gone like a Nihkou'te-gry'sui in tail-wind. I open her restraints and she quickly scrambles back into her cage and closes the door behind her. What in _Lil-ka_ did she think I was going to do to her?

I need to get out of here. Eating is out of the question and so is training. Neh'seai is probably at the kehrite and she's the last person I want to see right now. There is one thing that calms me down and gives me focus and it's in my cabin. I hurry out of the lab and back to my suite. 

My cabin is in another quadrant of the ship and I usually appreciate the walk, but now I feel anxious and need to get there quickly. There are about 60 other Yautja on this ship and I don't care to bump into any of them right now. 

I finally reach my quarters and throw myself inside. Being the head scientist on the ship has its perks and my cabin has a private bathroom and a trophy room, which doesn't have many trophies on display. I haven't hunted for years and it's usually only blooded warriors that obsess about their skulls, but the extra room is perfect to house my hobby. I sit down at my desk and pick up the piece I'm currently working on. It's a bead made of bone shaped like a coiled snake. I have several clips made of the material – skulls, leaves, anemones. Nothing I would show anyone or try to sell. I'm too afraid others will think they are plain or tacky. I don't even wear them myself, although I do try them out on my tresses to make sure they fit. It's just something I love to do and it calms me down. Sometimes better than the kehrite. 

Hours pass and I realize Neh'seai must have gone back to the lab a long time ago. It would be unwise to leave her alone with the ooman for too long, so I put away my tools and clean up quickly. I hurry back to the laboratory. Neh'seai is working and doesn't care about the ooman. She looks unharmed but I suppose she must be hungry again and I take out some naxa for her and one for myself. The ooman is very hungry and eats all the fruits I give her, I even give her mine since my appetite hasn't come back yet. I'll try to gobble down some meat later, but I have to get to work in order to have something to present to the clan leaders when we return. 

We make a lot of progress, and I have to acknowledge that Neh'seai has many brilliant ideas and is a great help to my research. We are about to close up for the night and I find myself wanting to spend more time with Neh'seai outside of work.

“Neh'seai, would you care to join me in the kehrite for some sparring before the evening meal?”

Her mandibles twitch and she looks down at me surprised. “Why would I go sparring with a fish milt like you?”

“...”

The audacity of that pauk-de female! I - I want to rip her throat out and straighten out that smug grin on her face! But she's bigger, heavier and stronger. The only one that would have any body parts ripped off would be me, and explaining to the captain would also turn out to be quite bothersome. Especially since that drunken episode on Kal-do'si. I give in to the next best thing – slaughtering the wall behind our monitors.

Neh'seai laughs at me and turns off her screen. “'I'll see you tomorrow.”

I give her my deadliest glare as response and try to get back control over my breathing when she swaggers away. 

I lock up the lab and almost run to the kehrite. Three warriors are already at it, trying to pummel each other out of the ring in a hand-to-hand melee. I have no plans on interfering with their brawl and to my luck another unblooded is there watching the fight. One I know pretty well – Ua-O'stun. He lights up when he sees me and we greet each other.

“Haven't seen you around for a while, Tak'aetl. You here for a rematch?”

“Sure.” I feel pretty roused and perhaps I wouldn't get totally crushed by my friend today. 

We walk to the empty ring on the other side of the room and bow our heads to initiate the match. Ua-O'stun launches at me and I evade his attack easily by jumping to the side. Normally I play pretty defensively but with all the cjit that has happen today I need to vent my aggression. I stretch my claws and jab at his chest. Ua-O'stun is a head taller than me but I'm leaner and make up for my shorter reach with faster foot work. Unfortunately I don't spar very often, and its evident in the way Ua-O'stun swiftly grabs my arm and pulls me sideways so that he ends up behind my back. He grabs my arms and wrestles me to the floor. From there defeat is only a few tugs away and he pushes me outside the ring.

“Two out of three!” I won't give up just yet.

“You bet!” Ua-O'stun clicks his mandibles and starts to circle me. He swings his arm at me and I duck while his arm grazes my tresses. _Pauk_. Nobody touches my tendrils! I growl and charge at him. The move surprises Ua-O'stun. It's not like me to fight aggressively, and he takes my skull right to his gut. He looses all air and falls backwards. Not far back enough to fly out of the ring. I take advantage of his current disposition and slam into him, effectively pinning him to the floor. He manages to unlock an arm and gives me a heavy blow to the side of my head, making me fall off him. He's breathing heavily from the exertion but manages to wobble up to a stand. I reach for what's closest – his leg – and yanks it with all my strength. He falls back down on the mat with a loud grunt and I spin him around and haul him out of the ring. This is the first time I've ever won a round over Ua-O'stun and I feel like I'm about to combust with pride!

Ua-O'stun moans and clicks his mandibles rapidly in laughter.

“Let's take a raincheck on round three. I need to get something in my stomach.”

I reach out my hand and help him up. “Let's call it a tie then!” We both laugh and go to the meat storage to bulk up. While me and Neh'seai were collecting specimens, the other hunters had hauled a large amount of prey into the ship. There was fresh meat to eat as much as one liked and in a few days the rest would go into preparation for larder. 

We take a hind leg each from an elk and take it to the recreational area where we start munching on the meat. 

“How's working with Neh'seai?” Ua-O'stun seems genuinely curious and is analyzing every expression on me to find a hint of what I really think.

“She's clever. Talented.” _I wasn't lying. I really think she is._

“And she's hot!” Ua-O'stun exclaims and takes a large bite out of the leg.

“If you say so.” 

I don't want to get into a conversation about my colleague. The rest of the leg goes down quickly and I bid Ua-O'stun good night.  


  


~[Malin's POV]~

That creepy bastard left the lab. Good! I'm relieved things didn't go down the way I was afraid they would. No use in dwelling on that. I realize I'm alone in the laboratory and the alien never locked the hatch to my coop before it left! Carefully I unhinge it and crawl out. Even though I'm not locked inside the cage anymore, I still don't feel _free_. There are no widows in the lab so I don't know if we're in space or still on earth. 

I sneak to their desk but I don't dare to touch the screens they were working on. It would be very bad if they were somehow alerted to my newly found freedom. I look around the room to see if I can find _anything_ of use, but I honestly wouldn't know how to use even half of the gadgets in here. The electrical rod the alien used to poke me with is still on the examination table. I snatch it and inspect it thoroughly. There are no buttons on it but at one end I can feel the material giving in slightly and when I poke the tip on my other arm I feel a bolt of electricity that makes my arm jerk violently. I press more gently and try again. This time the zap is no more powerful than the ones the alien gave me. I conclude that the voltage increases as I put more pressure on it. 

I hide the weapon under the fur in my coop, in case I'll need to defend myself. There are no visible ventilation ducts coming into the lab that I could hide inside. There are only two doors leading out of the laboratory. The one to the storage room with the 'shower' and the one the aliens use to get in and out of the lab. Both are locked – or at least unresponsive to my human hands.

I'm afraid the aliens will come back soon and I enter the seclusion of my cage again. I sit and wait for a while until the larger alien comes back. I wonder when they'll feed me again. There is a high possibility I won't get any more food, due to what happened last time they fed me. I hope that's not the case, since the pregnancy is making me really hungry. 

I suppose I don't have to make a choice about terminating or not now. I don't know how I feel about that. I certainly wouldn't want to have my baby _here_ with these aliens but I don't want them to hurt it either. The thing is, if Richard knew, he would insist on moving to Bemidji, but I don't want him to move in with me just because he _has to_. He should have come with me when we talked about how much I miss my family and where I grew up. What a complete mess! But at least I don't have to worry about periods or getting impregnated with alien eggs as long as the pregnancy lasts. They look like egg layers, the ugly fucks! 

I try to get the alien's attention with the same routine as yesterday, but this time it growls and flares its mandibles at me. I can't help to flinch and a little yip escapes my mouth before I silence myself with my hands. The alien walks back to its desk and I don't dare to signal it again. So I was right about having to starve. 

After a long time the other alien returns and it gives me more fruit, which I devour with reverence. Apart from that they don't seem to take any notice of me and what's even better, they don't notice that the electrical rod is missing. They keep working and bickering until it's late and their growls and chitters turn more animated than usual. It culminates when the black alien has a tantrum and punches a big dent into the wall. When they finally leave again I notice how tired I am. Keeping myself on my toes like this is exhausting and I fall into a restless sleep.  
  


***

  
The next morning an angry snarl awakes me. One of the aliens is standing in front of my cage and there's no mistaking the anger burning in its eyes and it seems to be directed at me. What have I done? When it yanks open the hatch to my cage the doors slide open and the other alien comes in.

The angry alien clicks and growls at the other one and I sit back with a relieved exhale. The discussion seems heated and the larger alien storms out of the laboratory. The smaller alien sticks its hand in my coop and I guess it wants me to come out. I do so without it having to drag me out as usual, but apparently I'm too slow for its liking and it pushes me to the storage room. So it wants me to take another of those showers? I don't think I smell bad, but maybe it's just a daily routine? I hesitate slightly and when my step falters the alien ambushes me by bumping into my back. 

Suddenly the air inside the room feels heavy with a lovely scent. It's definitely masculine and I realize it comes from the alien. So they are both male then? I wonder how I could not smell this before and to my horror and embarrassment I can feel my body react to it and a gush of slick trickles down my inner thigh. I'm so, so, happy that I'm a woman and no one can see what state I'm in. Its arm brushes past my hip, making me flinch, but I relax again when I see it's only opening the hatch to the tube. I go inside and the purple light envelops me.

When I come out the alien is staring at me and takes a deep breath that ends with a broken squeak. I hope it's not angry at me, the way its eyes are burning brings me back to my rude awakening this morning, but its mandibles are closed and not as aggressive looking as the other's were. 

It stands paralyzed a few moments but darts away and leaves me alone in the storage room. I don't know what I'm supposed to do so I wait for minutes. 

The alien comes back with a bowl and a washcloth. It puts the bowl on the floor in front of me and puts the washcloth in my hand. I think it wants me to clean myself so I dip the cloth in the water and rub it under my armpit.

The alien growls and grips my arm to hold it still. My heart is nearly beating out of my chest with fear but I try not to give in and cry, I need to focus on what it wants me to do. It points to my crotch with its free hand and pulls my hand down. Oh dear God, I hope this is just routine. The alien can't _know_, can it? I wipe my private parts with trembling hands and dip the cloth in the water again just to be thorough. 

When I'm done I leave the cloth in the bowl and the alien picks it up. Isn't its hands also trembling a bit? I haven't noticed before. Luckily it leaves with the bowl, giving me a few moments to pull myself together. I'm dragged out and put inside the cage. The alien still smells absolutely wonderful and it makes me hate him even more. He doesn't stay long and soon I'm by myself in the lab again – with the other animals as company of course.  


  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

I wake up refreshed having had a great night's sleep. I should go to the kehrite more often. Making a mental note to do so, I saunter to the lab only to see that Neh'seai has opened the cage to get to my ooman. 

“What the pauk, Neh'seai! I thought we agreed that this was my ooman?”

“_Your_ ooman reeks. Get her cleaned up!”

“I already did, yesterday.”

“No it's not that, s'yuit-de! She's in heat. How is it even possible when she's pregnant? I can't stand it. You need to get rid of it. NOW. Or I swear to Cetanu, something's gonna happen.”

“Cjit. Just get out of here and let me deal with it. I'll put her in decontamination again.”

“When I come back I except the lab to be pristine and clean enough to lick!” 

Neh'seai storms out of the lab, leaving me to deal with the inconvenience. If I knew how much work it would be, I wonder if I still would've caught the ooman.

I reach for her to show her that she can come out and she does, with no shame what so ever. I push her in front of me to decontamination, all the while her scent fills the air and I can't resist to open my mouth and taste the air properly. _Lil-ka_, the taste is unlike anything I've ever had and when she nearly trips on her feet and my thigh collides with her ass I almost come undone. My dai-shui releases without intent. _Cjit_! She needs to be decontaminated, NOW. Neh'seai is right. I push the ooman inside the tube and start it. When she comes out the scent is still there as prominent as ever. I don't know what to do! 

I need to think, _think_, but my mind doesn't work properly under stress. The decontamination doesn't help, because this is not dirt or bacteria. It's something natural and I guess good, but it's not good _for me_. Wait. Water! Water is heavy and the ship doesn't carry enough of it to waste for cleaning and such, but water will help to get rid of the smell. 

I leave her in the storage room and go to the lab to fill a bowl with water. I find a piece of cloth she can use to wash herself with, and head back. I leave the bowl on the floor and give her the cloth. She starts to clean herself, but not where she needs to! How can she not know, seriously! It's like taking care of a suckling, but a suckling with really soft skin, that smells absolutely divine, and absolutely pauk-de shameful. I can't stand another minute in this stuffy room with her and I show her where she needs to clean. 

Luckily she finally understands, and I don't have to clean her myself. I honestly don't know if I could do it. When I take the bowl of water it smells like _her_ and I can feel myself stiffening inside my sheath. _Pauk_, I'm not a deviant! I don't lust after animals! I need to get out of here. I drag her, maybe a little bit too violently, to her cage and lock it. I forgot to last time. Luckily she didn't notice. I can't stay in here and leave for my cabin and my beads.


	6. Chapter 6

~[Malin's POV]~

It doesn't look as if the black alien is coming back anytime soon, which is good - really! Good riddance. I don't know what got into me. I must have had a wet dream when I slept, which already had me affected. It has _nothing_ to do with those crab-faced sons of...

My thoughts are interrupted when the large alien comes back to the lab. It opens and closes its mandibles and snorts when it looks at me. The alien starts to walk towards my coop but takes a turn when it's almost in front of it. It stops in front of the cage next to mine and rattles it violently. The pussy-spider doesn't react and it looks kind of beat, compared to when I first got here. The alien walks away to its desk, but instead of continuing to work, it fetches another one of those syringes. It sticks the needle through a hole in the pen and into the pussy-spider. It twitches but falls back down on the floor almost immediately.

The alien opens the hatch and uses a scalpel to cut off one of the creature's legs. Its yellow blood drizzles down on the floor and starts to fizz and evaporate - it's acid! The large alien gives me a sinister look and quickly walks out of the lab. The creature wakes up and plaster itself on the wall of its cage. Its blood is dripping on the glass, melting a growing hole in the cage wall. The pussy-spider climbs through the hole and latches on to my cage, and I know it'll only take seconds before it's through this wall as well. I try to kick out the hatch of my cage, but it doesn't budge. The feeling of panic starts to rush trough my nervous system, as death approaches with unrelenting speed. I only have one thought in my mind – to protect my baby!

Suddenly I remember that there's a weapon under my fur and I grab it quickly and push the top in as far as it goes. It's hopefully enough to kill the creature! The hole in my cage gets larger and larger and I gather all the courage I have and zap it with the rod as it breaks though the wall of my cage. It jolts, but it's not enough to kill it, and I see it brace itself for another jump. I zap it again mid-air and it changes trajectory slightly and bumps into another wall inside my pen. With the rod in a tight grip I take a swing at it when it attacks again. I miss, and drop the rod when acid from its leg hits my bare arm. The creature tries to latch onto my face and I cover it with my hands, while clawing at the thing to get it off. Its tube is pushing through my fingers and more of that extremely painful acid drops on my arm.

Just as the tube touches my lips in a disgusting mockery of a kiss, I hear a roar and the hatch to my cage is ripped open. Strong hands pry the thing from my face and rips it in half. Acid blood splatters everywhere. On my cage and on the floor outside of it. I look out when I hear another anguished howl and I see the black alien clutch his leg. A large, smoking gash is spreading over his thigh and his mandibles are flared out in pain. He's scrambling for a pouch that hangs on the belt of his loin cloth, but he can't get a grip of it and it falls to the floor, as does he, when his legs fold underneath him. I crawl out of the cage and can hardly feel my own wound when I pick up the pouch and open it. It's full of a neutral smelling salve. Does this help to heal the wounds? I look to the alien for guidance but he has passed out from the pain. I do the only thing I can do – smear the salve on his wound and on my arm. I start to feel better immediately and the sizzling on his thigh stops. 

The alien is still unconscious when I weigh my options. I could drag him to the door and see if his fingerprints opens it and escape, but how would I get off the ship if we're in space? And what if the other alien comes back and finds out its plan backfired? The black alien has been nice to me. Given me food and taken care of me. My only option is to trust that he will keep me safe, but how can I wake him up? I try to shake him but he doesn't react. He's not dead, I can see his chest rising and falling rhythmically. I know where the syringes are now but aren't they only for sedating? I run to the place and there's a lot of needles with different kinds of fluids, but the language on them are useless hieroglyphics. The stuff they used to sedate me was blue in color. Perhaps the red one will have the opposite effect? 

The other alien will be back soon and I know my only chance is to wake the other one up. I take the syringe with the red liquid and leap back to the unconscious male on the floor. Its skin is so tough, where can I find a vein? I stretch out his arm and turn it up so I can see the bend of his arm where humans usually have good veins for drawing blood. I'm not a nurse but I think I theoretically know what I'm doing. To my delight the inside of his forearm is full with bulbous veins and I ready the needle to plunge it in when the alien inhales sharply and sits up. I'm still waving the needle with the red liquid when his head turns around to me and he chucks the syringe out of my hand with a snarl. 

“Relax. I only tried to help you!” 

The alien growls and clicks at me. I don't understand one iota of what he's saying but he seems to be in a hurry and drags me up to stand next to him. As far as I can see, he starts to panic and rummages around inside the boxes and chests that are spread out along the walls of the lab. I have no idea what he's looking for so I try to stay out of the way. He enters the storage room and I can hear things clattering to the floor. In a minute he comes out with a blanket. _They had blankets all along, but I had to sleep on a hot fur?_

He stands in front of me and gestures for me to pay attention to him before he spreads the blanket over his head and curls into a ball under the blanket. He stands up again and covers my mouth with his hand. Not tightly as he'd done before, but more explanatory. He says something I don't understand and gives the blanket to me. I assume this is one of those times I have to copy him again and I spread the blanket over my head and make myself small as he showed me. I yip when he picks me up, blanket and all, but quickly remember to keep my mouth shut. He carries me inside the bundle for a long time. Occasionally I hear other aliens pass us and growl something at _my_ alien. How large is this spaceship? The blanket smells strongly of horse and barn, but I don't mind. After a walk that seemed to never end, I hear a door whoosh and I'm placed on soft furs. The blanket is lifted off me and I realize that we are inside a cabin – his living quarters?

The alien speaks again and all I can do is stare at him stupidly until he walks out and leaves me alone inside his cabin.  


  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

All I needed was a short break to calm down and focus on something else. I decided not to stay too long in my cabin since I needed to go and make sure that the laboratory was clean and _pristine_ as my colleague put it. 

When I enter the lab I see the ooman fighting off the u'darahje and something inside me snaps. I launch myself at her cage and rip the creature from her face. As I tear it apart, its acid blood spatters on my leg – and it hurts, like nothing I've ever felt before! I hear myself scream and then everything blackens.  
  
  


***

  
  
When I wake up I see the ooman hold a syringe with red fluid in her hand. Was she about to inject me with the extermination fluid? I push it from her hand before she hurts anyone. I didn't know she had enough backbone to try to kill me, but it doesn't matter. She can't stay in the lab, because I have my suspicions about what happened. If the ooman stays, Neh'seai will retaliate. She won't like that I killed the u'darahje. I'll have to come up with an excuse.

But first we need to get out of the laboratory somehow. Since my cabin is on the other side of the ship, we're likely to run into other Yautja if we try to go there. I search for something to cover her with, but the furs we have here are too small. After a while of fruitless searching I remember that we have something that I found on the blue planet. It was in a house full of large four legged animals and was covered with their DNA. It turned out to be useless, but for some reason I haven't taken the time to dispose of it. What's great about it is that it will cover the ooman completely and also mask her scent. It smells strongly of the four legged animals.

I go and get it from the storage room. Now I need to cover her but she doesn't understand my instructions. The only thing left to do is to show her and hope that she's clever enough to copy. I crouch and put the blanket over me. When I emerge I cover her mouth to show her that she needs to be quiet from now on. She takes the blanket and mimics me – good, finally a hint of intelligence! 

I pick up the bundle and walk as casually as I can out of the lab. The walk to my cabin has never been as long and we meet several of the crew on our way there. I greet them as usual not to draw any suspicion. We finally arrive in my cabin and I can put down the ooman.

“Please don't touch anything or try to escape. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

She stares at me mindlessly, and I know I'm making a mistake doing this, but it's too late to change anything now. I can only hope she stays quiet and calm, while I try to come up with a plan to stop Neh'seai from suspecting me.

I take the blanket with me and leave her in my cabin.

As I hurry back to the laboratory a plan is starting to form inside my head. Neh'seai won't be pleased and I know I will be reported to the captain, but if my story checks out there's nothing they can do. 

The ooman needs to die. If they think she's dead they won't have any reason to search my cabin. That just leaves me with deciding in which way she died and how I disposed of the body – all without incriminating myself.

I already have the means of her death; The u'darahje got loose and implanted her chest. The whole laboratory is full of evidence of its escape. As for what I did with her after I found her with the parasite stuck to her face? I disposed of the body – for everybody's safety. Ejecting her to space would seem the most plausible action, but there is surveillance on all the air locks. I wouldn't be able to trick the cameras.

There is however another means of disposing dead bodies on the ship, and it's located next to the laboratory and medical bay. If a Yautja or specimen dies of an infectious disease, the body can be burned in the incinerator. Throwing out one of our own into space is not worthy.

I hurry back to the lab and collect the body parts of the abomination and wrap it inside the blanket. The incinerator is located in a small room next to the med bay. I look around to check that no one has seen me and slip inside. The incinerator oven is large enough to fit a Yautja inside, but not a full-grown kiande amedha. I open the hatch and tuck the blanket with the dead creature inside, close the hatch and press the start button. The machine starts to whir and I enter my security code into the terminal. Luckily, I have a high clearance in all the ship's terminals that are associated with the laboratory and medical facility. I search for the incinerator's log. It says:__

_Kiande amedha material._

__I change it to:__

_Ooman material.  
Kiande amedha material._

__

Before I go back to the laboratory, I carefully open the door to assert that I'm alone and Neh'seai is still out, which gives me time to clean up some of the evidence. I put back the syringe in the case and call her on the intercom when I feel confident that everything has been taken care of.

“Neh'seai, you have to come to the lab at once. There has been an accident.”

Neh'seai is silent for a moment, and when she finally speaks, her voice is deceptively calm. “Ok, I'll be right there.”

As I scan the place one last time for anything that would contradict my story, Neh'seai stomps inside and stops in the middle of the room. 

”Where's the ooman?”

“There was an accident. I found her with the u'darahje on her face. We don't have security clearance to house any kiande amedha, so I disposed of them.”

“What do you mean; disposed!” Neh'seai starts to breath heavily and her mandibles flare out.

“I put them in the incinerator.” I try to stay calm even though my heart is trying to jump out from my chest.

Neh'seai narrows her eyes and looks at me with contempt. “Don't for one second think I believe you! We're going to the captain.”

“You do that. I'll stay here and make sure the other specimens are fine.”

Neh'seai, circles me and crowds me from behind. 

“I insist you go with me.”

She looms over me when I turn my head and look at her, and that's when it dawns on me - the cameras in the lab. I completely forgot we have cameras that record everything that happens inside the laboratory. _Cetanu, take me!_ My throat constricts involuntarily and my hearts skip several beats before they start to thunder in my chest, violently and completely out of sync. Neh'seai begins to walk towards the doors and I have to move my feat to avoid being trampled by the agitated female behind me.


	7. Chapter 7

~[Malin's POV]~

I stand up and walk to the entrance when the doors close behind him. There's a plate on the wall beside it and just as the one in the lab, it doesn't do anything when I touch it. I'm locked inside the cabin - great! 

The nausea is starting to get bad and I'm hungry, _so hungry_. Haven't the aliens ever heard of breakfast? The cabin is sparsely furnitured. There's just a pile of furs on the floor, a coat rack with some sort of net and a mask. I remember when I first got here and thought that the masks were the aliens' faces. Kinda wish they were, now that I've seen what they look like. I frown and stand on my tip toes to take it down from the hanger. 

Its metallic but lighter than I expected. Gosh, their heads are huge... I'm not stupid enough to try it on, but I feel the inside for buttons or anything that will turn it on. I find nothing. With a deep sigh, I hang it back where I found it. 

There's two other doors in the cabin. One of them is locked and the other leads to a smaller room. The small room has a sort of kitty litter box with the same bottom as the floor in my coop. Nice! I could use some private time in the near future. There's no shower or tub here either but I see what looks like a tiny faucet above a table. There's a bowl on the table and some stuff I can't place. Probably alien toiletries. When I hold my hand under the faucet, water starts to drizzle. I drink several handful's and my nausea subsides a little. 

No mirrors anywhere but I'm pretty sure I don't want to see what I look like. My hair is already in tangles and the skin on my face feels greasy. Luckily I didn't wear any make-up on the hike, or I would have been in trouble.

I sit down on the furs and cradle my legs. The bristle is starting to itch – great, just great! I couldn't find a razor or anything similar in the bathroom. They probably don't even grow beards. Hopefully the itching will stop when the hair grows out. There's not anyone here I need to look nice for anyway. 

I start to sort trough the pelts on the floor to find anything I could use to cover my nakedness with. The alien had taken the blanket with him. The furs would work less than perfect for the assignment. There are pelts with long fur, short fur and blotchy fur. I find a skin that doesn't have any fur at all – icky. It's soft and thin. Something I could use to cover myself with? I pull it out on top of the others and spread it. 

FUCK ME JESUS! I jump as if I had landed in boiling water. The skin is not even 4' long and about 1-2' wide. It has a tan color but what made me freak out was the top. It has fucking hair on the top! It's a human scalp with the whole head- and back skin intact.

I cover my mouth with my hands to stop the scream that starts to bubble in the pit of my stomach. All the blood in my head leaves my brain and the adrenaline that originates from somewhere near my heart starts to spread through the rest of my body and it's making me hyper-ventilate. What the fuck is wrong with these aliens? 

I've never felt this unsafe in my entire life, not even when I was strapped to the table. I need to get off this ship! Will the alien skin me as well when he comes back? I try to get back control over my frantic breath. 

Panicking won't help me in the situation I'm in. I close my eyes and start to ramble the scout oath as a mantra. “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

A scout seeks their own belief and respects other's beliefs. I need to accept that these aliens have different beliefs than me. I exhale slowly and open my eyes. 

I need to tread carefully if I don't want to end up in that pile of pelts. No fucking way I'm letting him skin me and keep me as some kind of sick trophy or snuggle blanket. I'll be nice and likable. Hell – I'll even sleep with him if that's what it takes to keep myself alive. And when the time comes, I'll escape the first chance I get and leave this nightmare.

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Neh'seai follows two steps behind me the entire way to the command bridge. She doesn't say anything, but the bristling atmosphere around her is telling a lot. Hopefully she's too upset about the sabotage of her plan to study an ooman kiande amedha to notice my anxiousness. 

The captain looks at us with cold indifference when we enter the command bridge and bow our heads to her. An'dchath-ka is senior to us by centuries and she was one of the most proficient hunters in our clan before she injured her leg fighting a kiande amedha queen. Her handicap is the only reason she pursued a leading position in the first place, and she has very little patience for squabbles amongst her crew. Needless to say, Neh'seai and I are not her favorite subordinates.

“Speak.” An'dchath-ka lets her hands rest on her hips and arch back slightly. Almost 8' of cream and yellow colored brawn is eying us with meticulous scrutiny. 

I look at Neh'seai and wait for her to start besmirching me. Even though I'm the lead scientist, it's she who wanted us here in the first place. Hopefully the captain won't be interested in the internal politics of the science team and dismiss Neh'seai without investigating the circumstances.

“Captain... I need.. I believe my colleague here has broken protocols on ethical conduct in our research.”

An'dchath-ka stares at me, then at Neh'seai. “Speak plainly.”

Neh'seai looks slightly taken aback by the captains hostility but swallows and looks her back in the eye. 

“Tak'aetl brought aboard an ooman female, even though it wasn't on the procurement list.”

“I see... And that's why you decided to barge in here and bother your captain? With trivialities?”

I suppress the triumphant trill that wants to escape my throat. I knew it was only Neh'seai that overreacted when I took an ooman specimen.

“No! It's because he has unprofessional feelings towards...”

“Excuse me!?” I interrupt her. “When have I _ever_ been anything less than profess..”

Now it's Neh'seai who cuts me off. “Oh please, you want to pauk that ooman and now you've spirited her away somewhere – search his cabin!” 

My whole body turns cold from her accusation. What the pauk is she saying?! 

I take a step closer to my colleague and start to growl. “Pauk-de lou-dte...”

“Hold on a minute!” An'dchath-ka moves to stand between us. “Stop talking at the same time. You – speak.” She points to Neh'seai.

“He says that the ooman has been incinerated, but I don't believe him, he wants to...”

“Alright, enough!” An'dchath-ka raises her hand to stop Neh'seai from speaking further. The captain turns to me and her eyes narrow when she examines my reactions.

“Explain.” She looks less than impressed.

“The u'darahje we had in the lab got loose and the ooman became implanted with a z'skvy-de.” I try to clear my dry throat to continue the story without squeaking, trying to cling on to any scrap of masculinity I have left after being verbally assaulted by the two most menacing people on the ship.

“We don't have the capacity to store a kiande amedha on the ship. We don't even have the capacity to store an u'darahje! I had to incinerate the body.” I clench my fists so hard my claws sink into the palms of my hands.

An'dchath-ka is quiet for a while, while she lets our stories sink in. 

“I agree. Disposing of the z'skvy-de was the accurate course of action. It will be easy to confirm if you are speaking the truth, or if Neh'seai is.” She steps back and calls for one of her lieutenants. 

“Ga-A'dqo, I need you to go to the laboratory and find out if there has been an accident with an escaped u'darahje as well as investigate if the incinerator has been used recently.”

The lieutenant bows and hurries out. An'dchath-ka turns towards us again.

“You two stay here until we have found out what really happened.”

_Pauk!_


	8. Chapter 8

~[Malin's POV]~

I wait for hours and hours for the alien to come back. Fasting is not something I'm used to doing and with the pregnancy and nausea it's pure torture. There's nothing to do inside the cabin except running around in circles or doing burpees, but the lack of nutrition is not really putting me in the mood to exercise. 

I even fell asleep on a fur I took from the pile and placed in the opposite side of the room, but the alien still had not come back when I woke up and my stomach is turning itself into a knot. 

Finally I hear the familiar whooshing sound of the doors and stand up. A million questions pass through my head, is it the alien? Is it someone else? How do I make them like me and not skin me?

The person that walks inside the cabin is _my_ black alien and instead of feeling relief that it isn't the alien that hates me or someone even worse, I completely forget to be _nice and cute_ and I pick up the discarded human skin from the floor and assault him, pushing the skin to his chest. 

“What's this, you FUCKING monster!?” I shove the pelt into his face and when he grabs it, I start to pummel his chest and shoulder's with my fists, as far up as I can reach, all the while tears are cascading down my cheeks.

“You bastard!!!” 

The alien drops the plate of food he was holding, but doesn't move. 

“Take that you stinkin' crab!” I kick him in the groin. “FUCK!” He's totally unaffected and just tilts his head and stares at me while I jump around on one foot, holding the other. I think I broke a toe!

Before I topple over he picks me up and deposits me on the pile of furs. The alien leans in over me. _Whooa! Way too close_. I can feel his warm breath on my face and his mean looking tusks are just inches away. A rumbling purr erupts from his chest, making me back off too quickly and I fall down on my back. I turn to my side and crawl into a fetal position. What the hell was I thinking trying to befriend this monster. Now that he's here it turned out to be an exceptionally bad plan. I even considered seducing him! That's not gonna happen. Not ever!

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Ga-A'dqo comes back and speaks privately with the captain. She dismisses him and moves towards me and Neh'seai. We have been staring at everything except one another and neither of us has said a word to the other. It'll be hell to go back to work. If my plan works out, that is.

“So, Ga-A'dqo has investigated the laboratory and the incinerator logs. Tak'aetl's description of what happened is accurate.”

“He's lying! Have you searched his cabin yet?” Neh'seai growls and gives me a spiteful look. 

“I don't think it will be necessary to invade his privacy, young one. I'm very disappointed with you.”

The captain looks at Neh'seai until she lowers her head and mumbles something.

“What did you say?” The captain looks sternly at Neh'seai as one would look at a suckling that has done something wrong.

“I said - sorry.”

“Glad to hear it. Now you two get out of here and behave, or I'll have to separate you two.”'

Neh'seai glares at the captain's back while I have a hard time keeping my mandibles still. She doesn't look at me when she turns around and stomps out from the command bridge. I follow her to the lab.

We continue to work as if nothing has happened, except that we both pretend as if the other one is not there. I need to check the camera logs, but I can't as long as she's standing next to me. It's frustrating to say the least to wait for her to take a meal break. Especially when I know the ooman is alone back in my cabin. Who knows what she'll do unsupervised?  


  


***

  
It's getting late and we have worked for a ridiculous amount of hours. I'm starting to suspect that Neh'seai is waiting for me to leave the lab as well, but I have no idea why, unless she also wants to check the security footage?

Suddenly we have an incoming call. I check the dialer and it's for Neh'seai. Every male on the ship is trying to court her now that her heat is coming on. Correction, _almost_, every male. She answers the call and coos at the male on the other end. After a short chat she turns off her screen and leaves me alone. _Finally!_ I check the camera logs. There's nothing there for the entire day and the camera is still off. Did Neh'seai turn off the camera before she assaulted the ooman? Or did she take the logs while I was working and saved them for leverage?

I turn the camera on again and go to the food storage where I place a lot of food on a platter. The ooman must be starving, I know I am.

When I enter the cabin I see the ooman running around inside and she comes to meet me. She pushes a pelt in my hands and her eyes are leaking water. Her face is filled with red ooman blood and she starts to hit me. I hardly feel anything but by the looks of it, she's using all the force she has in her weak body.

I know a little about oomans, I'm not stupid. I can see that she is angry and not trying to initiate anything, but the way she attacks me... It's... I wouldn't say arousing, but it's.. _cute_. It surprises me enough to drop the plate of food I'm holding. 

The ooman screams and tries to kick me. She hurts herself and begins to twirl around in an odd dance. I catch her in my arms before she falls and injures herself even more. Even though her foot must be hurting, she still has fire in her eyes when she looks at me after I've put her down on the bed. If she wants to fight, I can roll her under me. _Is that what you want, little ooman_? I can't help to purr at the thought, and the ooman lies down and shows her submission.

I back off and go back to the door. Some of the food has been crushed when she attacked me. I pick up the ones that are whole and put them on the plate again. I can rinse them in the bathroom. The skin is still lying on the floor. I recognize it. It's the ooman skin I got from one of my students back when I was teaching. It must be at least 30 ooman cycles old! I curse myself for keeping it in my cabin for the ooman to see. Of course she would be upset! But how could I have known she would move from the lab to my cabin? 

I go to the bathroom and rinse off the fruit. I clean the piece of meat as well in case there was grime or bacteria on the floor. I wouldn't get sick, but the thought of eating it is repulsive. 

“Here's your food, little ooman.” 

I put the plate down on the bed beside her. She's still crawled up into a little ball and not looking at me. I eat the meat and rinse it down with a couple of fruits. There's still plenty of food left for her.

I go to the bathroom and make myself ready for bed. When I return the ooman is sitting up and eating the fruit. It makes me more happy than I want to admit to see her eat. I lean on the wall as I watch her stuff her plump face with food. 

Having the ooman here might turn out to be fortuitous for my research. Even though I don't have all the equipment here, there's still a lot of things I can learn about oomans. I just need to rethink my plans a little.

The ooman jumps off the bed when I lay down on it. I throw off a few pelts for her to sleep on and dim the lighting. There's no use to restrain her. Everything that's fragile or dangerous is in my trophy room, and the ooman itself poses no threat, not even when I rest. 

Sleep takes me almost as soon as I shut my eyes. I must have been more tired than I thought.


	9. Chapter 9

~[Malin's POV]~

He falls asleep almost as soon as his body hits the bed. Typical male! I take the opportunity to sneak a bit closer and have a better look at the alien. As I dare to inch closer, I discover that he's not completely monochrome. The sides of his cheeks fade to a greenish blue color that runs down his neck. The huge brow and forehead is sparsely peppered with tendrils that look like featherless bird-quills. The contours of the cranium is defined under the taut skin and the edge is slightly tapered where the dread-like tresses begin. The alien is even more gross looking up close, but I can't stop looking. His mandibles are resting close against his small lipless mouth.

He has removed the netting he always wears over his upper body. My eyes go on a little excursion on their own volition and I notice that his upper body is quite toned. Not in a stubby body-builder way, but more in a martial arts expert way. I notice he still wears his loincloth even in bed. His head is monstrous, but his body looks unnervingly human. I find myself wondering if he looks human under the loincloth too... Put a paper bag over his head and I could ride that thing! Wait, what am I thinking? _You're a horny bitch, Malin._ Yuck! Stop that!

I avert my eyes and shake my head as if I was in some kind of twisted cartoon and shuffle back to my own bed.

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

When I wake up the ooman is still sleeping on the pelts near the doors. She is lying on her stomach, straddling a rolled up fur with her left leg. Her female parts are pressed against the pelt and stupid as I am, I move closer and catch a glimpse of the pink flesh between her legs. _Paya_, I really need to get her a loincloth to cover that up! 

What's the deal with all that fur down there anyway? Does it serve any purpose? It just points to the crotch like a pauk-de arrow for everyone to look! Ooman males must be stupid if they need a map to find the treasure. A Yautja wouldn't need signs to know where to look when they mate. It annoys me that I couldn't stop myself from looking. I don't get aroused by soft mushy weakness! I like Yautja females, strong and fit with defined, slender muscles, _pauk_, I don't need to be thinking about _that_ also!

After a quick tour to the bathroom to drink some water I put on my netting and equipment and head to the lab. Neh'seai is not in yet and I can go about feeding and checking on the animals undisturbed. There's no use trying to focus on the research with all that's going on on the side, so I do a quick inventory check to see what kind of equipment I can borrow with me back to my cabin. We have a portable scanner that's more advanced than my bio-mask, and since I don't have a decontamination chamber in my quarters, the ooman would have to make due with a smaller one. 

Since Neh'seai obviously doesn't intend to grace the lab with her presence today, there's no meaning for me to stay in the lab either. I take the equipment with me together with a spare loincloth and return to my cabin.

The ooman is awake and is eating more fruit when I enter the cabin. I put down the equipment on the floor and sit in front of her. She swallows the last piece and bares her teeth at me in a very unpleasing manner. It annoys me, but I try to ignore it and hand her the loincloth instead. She fumbles with the fastening, so I have to help her with that. When its acceptably closed I motion for her to sit down so we can start training. I have decided to start teaching her our language. It'll be easier to deal with her if she at least has understanding of some simple words.

I put my hand on my chest and tell her my name “Tak'aetl.”

She furrows her brows and looks at me intently. I repeat it and then I point to her mouth. “Say it.”

She doesn't, and I sigh inwardly and try again. “Tak'aetl.” I tap my chest one more time. She opens her mouth and tries to sound something.

“T.. Te... Ta-el?”

Ok... This will take some time. She can't even pronounce simple words. I tap her chest to show her she should say her name. She flinches and her breath hitches slightly. 

I repeat the process with my name again and point to her more deliberately.

“Al'iil'.” Her cheeks turn red and her lips and tongue dances when she says it.

Huh? I haven't noticed before how weird her voice sounds. Breathy and melodic, not at all like real words. 

I try to repeat it “A.. Aa-lii.”. Her brows scrunch up and she tilts her head a bit before she shakes it. 

I don't understand. This is useless. I try to stand up but she stops me by putting a hand on my shoulder. 

She puts her hand on her stomach and says “'a-'yy”. I put my hand on my own stomach and repeat what she says but she releases a stuttering, shrill sound and shakes her head again. “m-di?” Aa-lii takes my hand and place it on her lower stomach. 

“'a-'yy” She speaks softly.

Oh. I press the pads of my fingers a bit deeper into her skin, careful not to claw her. There's hardly any resistance, but underneath the pyode I can feel her slightly taut uterus. It makes me feel funny. I don't like it, so I pull back my hand. Perhaps I can use the portable scanner on her so that she can look at her pup. 

I turn on the device and scan my arm to show her that it's all right before I put the scanner on hers. I show her the display and tilt it up so that she can look at herself. I adjust it from showing bones to the muscular tissue. It's harder than I thought to find the uterus but I eventually find it on her lower stomach and adjust the image to show her the pebble inside. Aa-lii looks fascinated by it so I let her watch for some time, while I sit back and observe her. She shows her teeth for herself when she looks at the display. Perhaps it's not a sign of aggression then.

Aa-lii removes the scanner and says something to me. She looks... at peace.

  


~[Malin's POV]~

I wake up alone, it looks as if the alien has returned to the lab once again. There's still some fruit left from yesterday that I can have for breakfast. When I'm in the middle of eating the alien returns and sits down on his haunches in front of me. I swallow quickly and smile at him in an attempt to ease up the tension. I don't get a reaction back but he has something for me - a loincloth. Finally some clothes, however minuscule.

The thing is impossible to tie up, and eventually he helps me. There's a secret locking mechanism I missed. It's surprisingly more comfortable than it looks. The alien sits down and points to me and lowers his hand. I sit down in front of him and observe him. He points to himself and growls a clicking noise. I wait for him to do something else but he taps his chest again and repeats the noise. Maybe there's some more sounds to it than just the growling? When he points to me I try to repeat what he said.

“T.. Te... Ta-el?”

He tilts his head slightly and does something unexpected, he puts his hand over my collarbone. I jump before I even register what he's doing. Then he quickly removes his hand again and puts it on his chest and repeats what he said before; _Ta-el_. I understand, and point to my own chest where he just touched me.

“Malin.”

He tries to repeat it; “A.. Aa-lii.” I shake my head and try not to snicker at how it sounds. Perhaps it made him offended because he suddenly tries to stand up, but before I can really think it through I have put my hand on his shoulder to stay him. Ta-el is a scientist, a physician. I know he can help me if I just find a way to communicate with him.

The shoulder touching worked and I have his attention again. I touch my stomach and try to explain to him.

“Baby.”

Ta-el touches his own stomach and tries to press his mouth shut to pronounce it, but without lips it just sounds like 'a-'yy. I can't help but laugh, not _at_ him, it's just this Jane fucking Goodall situation... I take his hand and press it against my stomach.

“Baby.” He has to understand right? I think I'll go insane if he doesn't.

Perhaps he does. Ta-el's eyes widen a bit and he digs in the pads of his fingers deeper, but not deep enough to claw me, thankfully. He turns around and picks up a device. It doesn't look like the electrical rod, but I'm relieved he uses it on himself first. It has a display that shows the inside of his arm. A sort of scanner. Ta-el tries it on my arm too and it doesn't hurt. The scanner is moved over my stomach and I can see what's inside. It's just like being at the gynecologist, only I don't have to do it vaginally. The dark blob on the display must be my uterus, I can't see the little bean anymore and it frightens me. He moves the scanner in all sorts of positions before he finds it! The white little bean - my baby. Ta-el lets me hold the device and look for as long as I like, but I don't dare to do it for too long, in case it has any effect on the fetus.

“Thank you.” He looks me in the eyes when I say it. I can never get used to those beady yellow eyes, almost golden. I haven't seen him blink once – ever! Does he even have eyelids?

Ta-el's gauntlet starts to beep and he presses a button while he moves the arm closer to his head. Growling sounds come out of it. One of his alien friends? He says something to the gauntlet and hurries out, without looking at me or gathering his equipment.


	10. Chapter 10

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

I hurry through the corridor to the laboratory. The call was from Neh'seai. She wanted me in the lab at once. I'm afraid something has happened to the specimens. It couldn't be about the business with the captain. It's all over and done with – right?

I slow down right before entering the lab. Keeping up pretense that I'm in some kind of control. Neh'seai is standing with her back to the examination table when I enter. The reason for her absence this morning becomes apparent when the doors close and I'm fully inside. Her dai-shui is thick on the air. The scent is indicative to her current state of biological circumstance - she's in heat.

I don't know what to say.

She leans back on the table and the muscles in her abdomen and thighs contract gingerly. I might have stared – I might have.

“Sleeping in this morning, huh?” The tone of her voice is slightly sardonic, keeping me on edge. She combs her tresses with her hand, slowly, perhaps even suggestively.

I swallow the lump in my throat and answer. “N-No. I've already fed the animals.”

“I see, and then you decided to climb back into _bed_?” My colleague squeezes her thighs together and her lower mandibles twitch inconspicuously. 

I can't think of a retort, to be honest, I can't even process what's happening. Her dai-shui is draining my brain of its blood. She suddenly straightens her back and propels her 7.5' right in front of me. 

“Like what you see?” Neh'seai now stands close enough to touch, and she looks deep into my eyes and shoves my shoulder. 

“...”

“Aren't you gonna try to fight me?” She leans forward over me and her tresses brushes my cheeks.

“I... I... N-Not in the laboratory!”

“Lets move this to your cabin then?” She coos over my head.

Uh-oh. That would be a bad idea. “...No, the lab is fine. I like the lab.”

She runs her claws over my chest, making me shiver. “I _really_ think we should move this to your cabin.”

Pauk no! My brain isn't scrambled enough to agree to that. I know what's in my cabin.

She takes my hands and places them on her hips. Her wide hips! _Lil-ka_... My claws dig in instinctively, holding her steady. She growls and the sound makes me loose it. My own dai-shui is released. 

Her hands drift down to my loincloth, unfastening the clasp. It clatters to the floor, the sound makes me flinch, but I can't focus on anything else than her scent mixing with mine, her flexing muscles and her hand that rubs my swollen sheath. 

“I've never.. done this before.” I wheeze when she strokes the slit on my sheath. My member peeks out and starts to descend from its preserve. I can't believe this is happening. It's never been this stiff - _throbbing_. 

I feel as if I can't get enough oxygen and start to pant when she fondles me. I close my eyes and focus on the exquisite feeling of her warm hand and dexterous fingers. To be touched like this, it's something I've never...

“Your. Cabin.” She breathes.

“No. Here.” I swallow hard and shudder when she squeezes her hand around my now fully erect member. 

She lets me go and the sudden loss of contact makes me whimper and open my eyes. Neh'seai stares at me coldly.

“You're such a s'yuit-de. Did you really think I would mate with you?”

_No. I mean, Yes. Pauk_!

She looks down at me and snorts haughtily. “What the pauk is that nubbin between your legs anyway? The coloring is disgusting!”

If Cetanu would take me now, I'd be grateful. Please kill me.

She laughs and leaves the lab. 

My erection wilts instantly. I've never been this humiliated in my entire life. It's all on camera as well. I slam my right fist into the examination table, denting it, and causing my knuckles to crack loudly and painfully. Wise from my previous mistakes, I delete the footage from the camera. I don't want to look at it and relive it again.

When I come back to my cabin I go straight to my trophy room without acknowledging the ooman. _Ell-osde’pauk_.

  


~[Malin's POV]~

Apart from the scanner Ta-el left another device that looks much like the electrical rod. I feel all around it to find the on-switch. When I find it, I learn that it works in exactly the same way, but it flashes a purple light. Yup, it's exactly what I thought it was. I try it on my foot, then the rest of my body. All the nasty smelling bacteria is gone. I could get used to this! But I do miss my shower at home. Another thing I miss is coffee... and bread! Gods! What I wouldn't give for a slice, or a loaf... I eat the rest of the fruit, but I'm still hungry. Fruit isn't very satisfying when it's all you've had for days.

Ta-el comes back, but he doesn't even look at me, he just goes straight to the mystery room. I stand up and walk after him, pressing my ear to the door, but I hear nothing. I wonder what he does in there.

He stays in the room for a long time. For hours maybe. Eventually I have to knock on the door. I'm so hungry. He needs to get more food. I'll starve at this rate with only a couple of fruits a day. When he doesn't answer, I bang on the door louder.

It opens and I can't stave my curiosity and look inside. He's working on something. There's a table with tools and all kinds of stuff. Before he can stop me, I've slipped passed him and placed myself in front of the workbench. Wow. So much stuff. Dainty, intricate little things. I try to pick one up, but he grabs my arm before I can touch anything. 

“Sorry.” I look back at him and he abruptly lets go of my arm. He takes a little piece and places it in my hand. A ring? I try it on my thumb, but it's a bit too big. It has a fish-scale pattern on the outside.

Ta-el takes my hand and pulls the ring off. He threads it over one of his dreads instead. I see. It actually looks good. I want to touch it but I'm not sure I should. Instead he runs his claws through my hair. I don't dare to move when he takes a lock and starts to twirl it in his hand. He rubs it from root to tip. It'll be hell to brush out, if I ever get a hold of a comb. Ta-el takes another clasp and fastens it in the tress he made in my hair. Then he takes another lock and does the same. Soon my whole head is covered in dreads and pearls. Oh well. Maybe it's for the best. I won't be able to wash it anyway. 

There's still an uncountable amount of the clasps on the table so I take it upon myself to decorate his dreads as well. When I take one in my hand he stiffens, but he doesn't shy away. I thread it over the tip very carefully and observe his reactions to make sure I'm not hurting him. I take another and run my fingers along it, committing the feel of it to memory. It's smooth, but not rubbery and warm. It's like petting a cat, I can't stop. Not until I see his face. He looks down on the table and his posture is beyond tense. He's quivering.

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

There was no solace found in working. My hands refused to follow my will and I almost dropped the knife on my foot. All I could do was sit down on the floor, curved up in a ball and hide my face behind my knees. Stupid, so stupid. I _am_ s'yuit-de. A more clever male would have seen through Neh'seai's guile and not succumb to that humiliation. She'll do anything to come into my cabin and expose what I did.

I don't know how long I sit like that, but a noise disrupts my self loathing and it was coming from the door. A banging sound that makes me stand up and press my palm to the plate to unlock it. Aa-lii skidded passed me before I could react and push her away. Skittering little ooman! She immediately starts to mess with my beads and I grab her arm to stop her from destroying them. 

It startles her and I feel bad when I hear her remorse. I shouldn't touch her arm like that. I pick up one of the less fragile ones and give it to her to look at. She puts it on her finger. Heh, I guess you could do that, but it wasn't what they were intended for. I take a strand of her hair in my hand and fix it for her. Eventually it's thick enough to hold the bead. Might as well keep going. I put a lot of beads in there and in the end I'm pretty satisfied with my work. It looks a lot better than before. As I admire my handiwork I must have lowered my guard because before I know it, her hands are encompassing one of my tresses, stroking it carefully.

The consequences are instant and dire, a cold chill of electricity runs from my scalp to my toes. I steel myself not to keen or swat her hand off. _Paya_, she runs her hands up and down, milking the sensitive appendage. I stare at my workbench, frozen stiff, shiver after shiver courses through my spine and I don't want it to stop, but I don't know what to do either. 

The choice is taken from me when Aa-lii suddenly stops. She looks at me – concerned. How can I explain to her what I want? How do you tell someone without a common language? When someone doesn't share your customs or rituals, how does one convey...no. She would scream or laugh at me. It's not possible. I leave her alone in my trophy room.


	11. Chapter 11

~[Malin's POV]~

I've never seen him this morose. Ta-el doesn't even look at me when he leaves the room. He keeps his eyes down and his whole posture is hunched low, depressed, perhaps frightened? It concerns me and I wonder if it has anything to do with why he rushed out of the cabin earlier. I follow him out, and on a whim I wrap my arms around his waist. He stops, but doesn't shake me off or try to remove my arms. 

I even forgot that I'm topless and only take notice when I feel my boobs compress against his lower back. To hell with it, if it's inappropriate he would have given me a shirt. He is my friend and I don't want him to be upset. I kinda like the warmth of his body too. Guess I'm acclimatised now because I don't even sweat that much anymore. I bury my nose into his back and inhale. “Aaahhh” he smells so good...wait. Did I voice that out loud? I feel my cheeks burn.

Ta-el clasps his hands over mine and holds them put while he slowly turns around. He bends down and nuzzles my hair, taking deep breaths and his hands move up and down my arms, much to gentle, almost a ghost of a touch. I suppose he thinks I'll break if he'd put any force behind it. It should be criminal, the way he smells. I can't get enough, even when I lean against him and run my nose over his chest, I can't stop myself. His chest vibrates against me before I can even register that he is purring. I find myself relax more and more in his company. 

He bends down lower and presses his mandibles against my cheek, brushing his tusks carefully against my face. His warmth is scorching my already burning skin but somehow it feels good and I close my eyes. He rubs his tusks gently down my neck and when it reaches the junction of my shoulder I feel a cautious wetness probe my skin and I open my eyes. 

Things are getting out of hand fast. Am I really about too...with an alien? His tongue follows the line of my collarbone and I have to bend back my head to not get knocked in the face by his giant head. Ta-el drops down on his knees and my hands slide up his sides to rest on his shoulders. His tongue is lavishing attention to the top of my sternum, sharp predator teeth nipping at my skin, sending shivers down my spine. His obsession with my neck is both frightening and erotic, and I feel the urge to do something with my hands and mouth, but this goddamn hypnotizing, mind numbing scent is making me flounder about like a damn teenager. I need to be touched, lower! I try to push him down by the shoulders, but it's like fighting against a brick wall. 

I take a few steps back to get his attention and thankfully he unlatches and doesn't follow me. Okay, if we're doing this it's gonna be on my terms. I'll show him how a human makes love! Now when I have his attention I try again to push him down and this time he follows my instructions and lies down on his back. Good boy.. I climb on top and run my hands over his hard chest. His neck is bent forward and he's looking at me cautiously. I press my brow to his to assure him I mean no harm and start to rain down light kisses on his brow and face. His breath comes out in short, hot huffs on me, encouraging me to continue.

I trace his facial features with my hands, to acquaint myself with his alien appearance. The fleshy mouth with several fangs on the lower jaw, but only two canine teeth on the upper, how big the lower mandibles are compared to the upper ones and the sharp tusks that adorns the tips, all these things should make me horrified and disgusted, it does, but it's also making me feel possessive. Those monster's teeth were on my skin moments ago and I cherished it. My head is swimming in a lust-filled haze and even though a part of me is appalled I press my lips to a mandible and I give it an experimental lick. It twitches, but he keeps it still against his gums and lets me explore as I wish. 

When I'm satisfied I pull back my face and trace the jagged ridge over his huge scull with my fingertips. I remember his response in the other room when I touched his dreadlocks and I let my fingers skate down and play with one. His reactions are very satisfying to me when I see his eyes widen and then scrunch together. I can feel the blood pulse in the tresses and his breathing becomes irregular and labored. The scent around him becomes even more prominent and even more dizzying. I take my time and stroke them gently before I run my hands over the rough leather of his shoulders down over his chest. The netting he's wearing is merely a nuisance, not dense enough to prevent me from feeling every texture of his skin. A few spike like hairs bend under my hands as I explore the thick hide that gets thinner and smoother down over his belly. I tease the muscles with the tip of my tongue and flatten it against his stomach, swirling it in my most seductive manner.

It gives me an idea to tease him some more. I take one of his hands and wait for him to open his eyes again and look at me as I lick a claw and wrap my lips around it. I suck the finger into my mouth suggestively and start to work it in and out of my mouth as I watch his reactions. Ta-el looks at me intently, damn he's so hard to read!

I let his hand go and he lays it down on the floor, same as the other, while I start to work on the clasp of his loincloth. Luckily I have gotten to practice on my own and know what to do, so it doesn't take me long to have it open and I slide the thing to the floor. As ugly as his face is, the rest of his body is amazing. His cock already stands proudly against his abdomen, glistening with a clear fluid. The color is deep red, making it stand out almost obscenely against the rest of his black skin and its size is perfectly proportionate to the rest of him, which makes me hesitate if I'll be able to take it all, especially in my pregnant state. 

It looks as if the cock is emerging from a slit in his crotch. It's surrounded by wrinkly and hard skin, almost like a codpiece. My toe aches when I touch the slit with my fingers. If I'd kicked any harder my toe would have broken. I could fit a couple of fingers inside the slit but I abstain when I see his abs clench and hear his breath hitch. His testicles must be inside the slit somewhere because they're not external. He is such a good boy just lying there on his back and letting me take my time admiring his physique. His cock is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, thicker at the base and slightly narrower at the tip. The underside is covered in ridges and small bumps making it look like a tool of ultimate pleasure. My mouth is watering when I imagine all the nasty things I could do with his piece, but for now I have a plan that I intend to stick with. I place my hands on either side of his pelvis to keep him still and move my head closer to the blunt tip. I'm gonna make him feel so good, he has no idea... I open my mouth and take the tip inside, proceeding down...

**Smack!**

I fly backwards several feet and land straight on my tail bone. Fucking OUCH!

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

When I try to leave I'm stopped in my tracks by arms around my waist. I can feel Aa-lii press her cool ooman body against my skin. What's this? If she's trying to attack me, it's not going to work. I could throw her straight across the room without effort. I can only wait for her to give a clue on what it is she wants and it makes me endure the acute discomfort I'm feeling with her _pyode_ body pressed against my back. Aa-lii puts her nose to my spine. I know what those are for in some animals. They are for _smelling_. She inhales loudly and lets out a sound that makes my stomach lurch.

The need to smell her in return is bordering on overwhelming. To sink down and drown, to _touch_. I turn around, but hold her hands in place, not wanting them to stop touching me. The scent is stronger this way, compelling me to bury my face in her hair – and inhale. I rub my tusks in the silky fluff, but it's not enough, my instincts tell me to feel more. I crave it. Her skin is much too delicate under my hands. A single wrong twist of my talons would break it. 

It feels as if I'm lost in a haze, without deliberate authority over my actions. I find myself rubbing my face on her neck. It's not something I could imagine doing to any female of my species. Opening up and inviting such an act of dominance is astonishing to me. She obviously trusts me completely. I could rip her throat out with a flick of my neck.

Her throat taste like salt and naxa. I have to bend down painfully to reach the shapely places. My knees feel weaker by the moment and I struggle to keep myself upright. Eventually I give in and fall down on my knees. I feel her slide her hands up, resting them on my shoulders. Her face is nuzzled against the top of my head.

I don't know how to proceed. She smells the same as that day in the decontamination chamber. It makes me want to do...something, but I'm interrupted by her pulling away. Her hands push me down lower, to a sit, and I follow their guidance further back until I'm lying down on the floor. Aa-lii follows down over me and before I know what's happening she is sitting with her legs on either side of my upper body. She crawls over me so that her face is over my face and she looks at me in a way that makes me want to hide, but that wouldn't be a very masculine thing to do. I try to endure it and not flinch when she comes closer and starts to push her mouth to my face. 

She holds down one of my mandibles with her hand while she leans in and presses her warm, fat lips to it. Her tongue slides over it down to my jaw and I do my best to hold completely still, even when all I want to do is roll her over and pin her down. She takes one of my tresses in each hand and starts to stroke them, making me gasp and shudder in pleasure. I claw the floor with my talons to get some relief, it's too much, until Aa-lii finally lets go of my hair and starts to run her hands and tongue over my chest. Her mouth is warmer than the rest of her and tension prickles over my skin when she moves her fat lips against it. I can feel every movement, when she opens her lips, the wet tip of her tongue, as it burns me and traces a line lower, and lower, over my stomach, making my abs clench.

She suddenly stops and takes my hand in hers and puts it to her mouth, sucking the claw into the hot cushion of her oral cavity. She moves her head up and down over it. I don't understand why, but I think I like what she likes, and I know she likes it, I can smell it on her. The essence of her womanhood permeates the air, the succulent channel hidden between her thighs hovers over my stomach. I could almost reach it with my belly if I were to tighten it, but I don't. I want to find out what she's up to.

I feel almost paralyzed and can only watch when she undoes my loincloth, exposing my throbbing, disgusting member. I guess it's over now. _Pauk_, she stares at it for so long, it's unbearable. I try to find a sign, a clue to what she's thinking. Does she want to mate? Should I put the loincloth back on? The wait is excruciating and it almost makes my cock withdraw into its sheath again, but then she places her hands on me and looks at it closer. I see her open her mouth and I see her teeth, descending down over my sensitive organ - _Pauk, NO!_

My arms lash out and in the nick of time I manage to push her away before she bites off my member. _Cjit, I'm such a s'yuit-de!_ She has a surprised and angry look on her face as she sits on the floor, rubbing the top of her backside. How did I ever get into this situation? And now I have hurled a pregnant female across the room as well. Great, just great, I'm such a pauk-de s'yuit-de. 

I pick up my loincloth and press it to my midsection as I rise from the floor. Twice in a day – really? I scramble into my trophy room and lock the door behind me.


	12. Chapter 12

~[Malin's POV]~

The day turned out to be a complete disaster. Perhaps it's better that nothing happened between us, but the tension inside the cabin could be cut with a knife. Ta-el hasn't spoken a word to me since it happened, he hasn't even been in the main room longer than to dump dinner on the floor (which I of course am grateful of), not that I would understand anything he had to say anyway.

Oooohh, why did I have to run after him in the first place? So fucking stupid! It's that intoxicating smell he produces, that has to be it, I would never, ever, not in a million years be acting like that if it wasn't because I was _hypnotized_.

The next time he comes back I'll just breathe through my mouth instead. That'll solve everything. Good. Splendid. I'm going to bed now!

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Even though things turned to cjit pretty fast with the ooman, I'm not completely dishonorable. I fed her and left her alone in my cabin as I try to take my mind of what happened and what didn't happen. As a means to distract myself I call Ua-O'stun and we decide to meet at the kehrite. I watch a couple of fighters practice as I wait for him to end his shift. Ua-O'stun eventually saunters in and sits next to me against the wall.

“Trouble in paradise?” Ua-O'stun smirks at me.

I give him a side glance and focus on the fight instead. “I wouldn't exactly call this ship paradise.”

Ua-O'stun lets out a low hum. “But Neh'seai is in heat now, correct? I could smell her when I walked past the lab.” 

“If you're so interested, why don't you try to court her yourself?” This topic is not making me feel any better. I wish I could tell Ua-O'stun about everything that's happened but I'm not sure he wouldn't turn me in.

“As if she'd ever be interested in a tech! Has she ever mated with someone that wasn't an elite hunter?”

“I dunno.” 

Ua-O'stun stretches his right leg and looks up at the ceiling. Then he looks at me and starts to laugh. 

“Do you remember that time at the bar on Set-da'te when you almost got together with that gorgeous Volyan woman? And Neh'seai waltzed in and told everyone that you had dick-blisters?”

I groan and try to take a swing at him, which he easily dodges.

“I really thought she did it because she wanted you for herself!” Ua-O'stun resumes his stretching but his eyes are glimmering with mischief.

“Nothing happened with her. There isn't a single female in any species that would be interested. I'm tarei'hasan to them.”

“You're not unworthy, come on, I would pauk you if I were female!” Ua-O'stun grins and tries to embrace me.

“Ell-osd'pauk!” I let him try, but when he's within reach I punch him in the gut. He doubles over and his tusks starts to tap together in a chittering laughter. 

“What about the captain then? I'd pauk her after a few rounds of c'ntlip. Oh, wait, you already tried that on Kal-do'si. Eeeee!” 

When Ua-O'stun sees my claws move towards his face he starts to run around the kehrite with me at his heels. He's too fast for me and eventually he tires me out. _Pauk!_ I don't know why I'm friends with that s'yuit-de. 

When I come back to the cabin _the ooman_ is sleeping. It was really easy for her to forget that she tried to bite off my member, huh? I take a few furs and move them to my trophy room. Not that I'm afraid to sleep in the same room as her, it's not as if she could _harm me in any way_, but I just don't want to be in the same pauk-de room as the ooman.

  


~[Malin's POV]~

It took a while to fall asleep with all the thoughts flying in my head. When I wake up it feels as if I didn't get any rest at all but I can't go back to sleep either. Ta-el's bed is still empty, and it's affecting me more than I feel comfortable with. I don't know if it was me or him that rushed things last night, but it's clear that we don't trust each other enough to have a physical relationship. I don't want to loose the budding friendship we had. There's no one else for me in this place. I think he locked me in here with him to protect me. Am I his pet now or something else? I bury my face deep in the furs and groan inwardly. I screwed up bad...

After finishing morning business there's nothing to do inside the cabin except for pacing around and wait for Ta-el to come back. The whole room is gray. Gray walls, gray floor, gray ceiling. The furs are the only specks of color in here. If I don't come up with something to do I'll become lethargic. I estimate the room to be about 50 feet in circumference. If I were to run my usual distance of 6.2 miles I'd have to do 655 laps. Starting slowly I jog a few loops around the room. It always made me feel better back home and it's already working here with the aliens as well. It gives me something to focus on and every time I pass the front doors I count. I continue to run around the room until the door to the trophy room opens and Ta-el peeks out. I was on number 603, so close to my goal and he ruined everything! I stop dead in my tracks and bend forward, resting my hands on my thighs while I look at him with what I hope is an affronted face. My pulse is thumping in my ears and my whole body feels warm and relaxed. 

He gives me a look but then he continues to ignore me and walks straight out of the cabin. Panting I curse him under my breath. Stupid alien ruining my groove. I'd kill for a shower but since there aren't any facilities like that here, I lean on the wall and catch my breath instead. 

It takes me about an hour to cool down in this high temperature and when my sweat has dried I use the device to clean myself the best I can. It's better than nothing I guess. The doors to the cabin opens and I expect Ta-el to come back but instead it's a little robot. The doors close behind it instantly but I feel my stomach fill with butterflies. A way to escape? The robot whirs softly and starts to sweep the floor with rotating rags on it's bottom. My mind is spinning with possibilities while I watch it clean the floor. It goes inside the bathroom and cleans there too, but not in the locked room. I can't believe Ta-el would be so careless to let a cleaning-robot have access to his rooms while I'm prisoner in there. I could just sneak out behind it when it leaves! But where would I go? I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I'd still be screwed. The robot leaves, but I don't have the courage to run away – _coward!_

After another hour of waiting, Ta-el comes back into the cabin. He walks up to me and says something in that growling language of his. His mandibles click together and he presents me with something he was holding in his hand. ...a chocolate bar. I'm dumbfounded and probably look like a fool with my mouth agape and eyes wide as saucers. Honestly I couldn't even imagine a better gift right now. I feel my eyes moistening up – crap!

  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

When I exit the trophy room I catch the ooman running around in circles. She stops when she sees me and glares at me. Is this their way of exercise? I wonder if she can fight as well, but it's probably not my place to find out if she can. It would give the wrong impression, and I'm still angry with her for last night, although when I think about it, in hind sight, perhaps I misread the situation. She hasn't tried to attack me again, not since she found the ooman skin and that's gone now. 

I go to the lab and do all the compulsory chores like feeding the specimens and checking on them, but I still can't focus on continuing with the genetic research. The ooman has invaded my mind! I's unworthy of a species like my own to think about a lesser species like that. About _animals_. I shouldn't, but I can't stop thinking about her soft skin and her wet mouth on my hide. Cjit! What if she wasn't going to bite it off? What if I've made a terrible, terrible mistake? My gut feels heavy, as if I'd swallowed a huge rock. My legs become rubbery again and I feel myself wobble. Luckily Neh'seai isn't here to see me struggle with basic motor functions. 

If there is a way to undo my mistake I'll do it. The larder is stocked with supplies we've picked up from the blue planet. Things that we've found on oomans we hunted, or just stumbled upon like the blanket that I carried Aa-lii in. I rummage around the shelves but I don't know what she'd like. Nothing feels good enough. In the end I just take something on chance and hope she'll like it. At least she'd hopefully appreciate the gesture. 

My hearts are thumping almost out of my chest as I walk back to the cabin. Aa-lii is standing up, looking as if she was waiting for me. No one has ever waited for me to come home. It's a feeling I could get used to, but my nerves are overshadowing any other emotion as I walk up to her.

“Aa-lii, I'm sorry I threw you across the room. Please let me make it up to you. I'll do anything to take it back. Please... let me pleasure you.”

I hold the gift in the palm of my hand, waiting for her to accept. All the while my hearts are making somersaults inside my chest. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt it prudent to warn you that the following two chapters contain adult material. They are Not Safe For Work. Or the bus, or any other public place us beasties like to read smut on.

~[Malin's POV]~

I snatch the chocolate bar before he changes his mind and I rip the cover open. It smells absolutely divine and I restrain myself not to gobble up the whole thing in one piece. The kickback I get when I eat it is probably close to that of a junkie getting their heroin-fix. When it's gone the feeling of loss is endless. I wonder if he has more...

Ta-el is observing me intently while I chew on the candy. He starts to purr and soon I feel dizzy again. Did I forget to breathe trough my mouth? Why is he torturing me? His purring intensifies while he moves closer and wraps his arms around me. I melt instantly and let his warmth wash over me. His vibrating chest and intoxicating smell topples all my defenses. Leaning against his chest I wrap my arms around his waist and hold him tight against me, just listening to his rapid heartbeat and breath. 

“Ta-el...” My voice is hoarse, probably reflecting all kinds of emotions. I don't know what it is I'm trying to tell him, and he wouldn't understand me even if I did. 

Ta-el takes my arms and pushes me away gently before he presses a button sequence on his wrist gauntlet. His netting retracts soundlessly into the device. I stare at his exposed chest and can't resist to touch it. His skin feels smoother without the netting, and I can feel the muscles and tendons work under my hand. I graze the thin quills that run in a line from the center of his chest down over his stomach. With the netting off, I can clearly see that he has no nipples or bellybutton.

When my hands reach the edge of his loincloth I hesitate, remembering how he reacted the last time I paid attention to his lower areas. To my relief he takes the lead and undoes the clasp. The loincloth falls to the floor and I get to see what his sheath looks like closed for the first time. If I had not already seen what he was packing I'd be concerned with his doll-likeness right now. 

He makes a sound that I interpret as encouragement, and I start to stroke the sheath gently with my fingertips. His body feels feverish, as if his core temperature is rising with each brush of my fingers. The slit in his sheath begins to unfold and I get a glimpse of the red, glistening mucosa that cradles his reproductive organs. The sound of his trembling breaths coalesce with the pooling heat in my womb and the outcome starts to seep and stick to my inner thighs in a shameful testimonial of my wantonness. 

I stroke the rough skin again and I'm rewarded with seeing the tip of his cock start to bud from the opening. Ta-el chokes down a groan when my finger carefully slips inside, stroking the frenulum under his glans. I try not to be overly eager in coaxing it out from its hiding place since I'm afraid he'll have a scare like last time, but I can't resist to dig my finger in a little deeper and feel the wetness inside. It's slick, but nothing compared to the wetness his sounds and pheromones is making me spill. 

His cock is pushing against my finger, and I remove it to give it room to swell. I don't need to touch him to make him stiff anymore and I rest my hand on his groin and watch as his cock unfolds and grows, pushing it's way out like a hatchling from its egg. 

Soon it's fully erect and I want nothing more than to take it in my mouth and swallow as much of it as I can, but I'm not an idiot, so instead I loosen my loincloth and let it fall to the floor. Ta-el stares at me as if he's never seen me naked before and it makes me blush. I quickly grab his hand and drag him to the bed before it starts to feel too awkward. 

I lie down and feel a very distinct coyness about how splashing wet I already am and I clench my legs firmly together to keep him from finding out. He follows down over me and puts his warm, large hands over my hips, encasing them fully. I really hope I won't hurt the baby with what we're about to do, but I've never heard or read that sex should be a problem during pregnancy and I'm not very far along – Still. He's so big! I swallow hard when I feel it prod and leak against the top of my thigh. He runs his clawed hands up over the sides of my body and I'm trembling so hard I can feel my breasts jiggle. He follows the outline of my lower pair of ribs with his gentle, dangerous hands, and I need to tilt my head up to see what he's doing.

He stops and hesitates at the base of my sternum, his eyes are flickering over my body, taking in every inch it would seem and my cheeks burn furiously when they land on my breasts, the one part of my body I truly hate. _Oh, for the love of..._ I can't watch. I put my hands over my face and clench my eyes shut. The purring that has been there as a soft background noise becomes louder and changes pitch into a deep rumble. I feel him poke my right breast and I almost die of mortification. The next time he prods it more deliberately and I can't help to exclaim a yelp. Ta-el shifts his body and I feel him take my wrists and move away my hands from my face. He says something and I slowly open one eye and then the other. He touches my cheek and growls again. I take a deep breath and regret my childish manners. I can't explain to him why... He probably thinks he's hurting me. I take his hand firmly from my cheek and push it lower to wrap over one of my breasts. 

His eyes move from my face to my chest again and I find that I actually prefer that. Ta-el gives it a few tentative squeezes that makes my cheeks blossom with heat again, and I feel as if I'm back at the examination table when he tests the elasticity and texture of my breasts. At least I keep myself from yelping again as he runs his fingers over a nipple. The cool and firm claw nudges my sensitive bud and sends a spark of pleasure down my spine. He runs over it again and it curls together into a dense peak that stands almost as stiff as his cock and he makes an appreciative sound at the reactions he pulls out from my body. 

I arch up from the bed with a startled gasp when he pinches it between his fingertips and pulls it slightly. The glare I give him would intimidate anyone, but he just tilts his head and looks at me with his yellow, golden eyes. 

“Don't do that again!” I growl at him and he clicks his mandibles and pulls away his hands, but his breathing becomes even more excited and if I didn't know better I would think my anger turned him on! 

Ta-el purrs louder and growls, _Aa-lii_ \- my name. I would give almost anything to understand the guttural language of his, but the growling and clicking is too alien to even begin to pick apart. When he tries to say my name his mouth contorts into something trying to mimic human speech. He puts one of his hands in between my knees and tries to say my name again. 

Melting all over again, I want him inside me. “Ta-el... Yes...”

I sigh and the part of me that doesn't give a fuck and only strives for pleasure takes over and I open my legs slowly in a lewd display that catches his attention and his eyes zone in on my core in an instant. All questions and playfulness forgotten when his entire body freezes. 

His hands move down the inside of my legs - _yes!_ \- but stop right before they reach my aching core. I feel the tips of his fingers glide in the excessive mucus – _so close!_ \- and we are both panting in unison, on the brink of overflowing with need, but he doesn't touch me where I want him to. 

I contemplate pulling him down over me by his dick when he crawls over me and I feel his hot breath on my forehead. The tendons in his neck bunch and strain when he soundlessly moves his mandibles and I can almost see the pulse of his jugular descend closer, within reach of my mouth. He sinks down and docks his completely black and hard body together with my soft and pale. I slide my hands over his back and rest them on the top of his ass, enjoying how the taut muscles flex under the palms of my hands. 

The sensation of his warm, stiff cock touching my core makes me part my jaws in a moan. Not in surprise, because I knew it was coming, but yes – in surprise - because I'm baffled by how satisfying it feels. It's as if I haven't been touched there for years, and the feeling intensifies when his cock slides between the folds of my labia and through the cleft of my ass, before it settles in the fur below us. When he slowly pulls back up and his warm glans strokes my clit in the most delicious way I almost come undone right then and there.

I can't see his face from this angle but his manic heartbeat and rattling breath are warning me that he is close. I want him to cum inside of me and I move my hips, but the next thrust slides past my opening again and I hear him groan. He pulls up again and I start to panic a bit. I tilt my hips and spread my legs, opening up as far as I can, while I slide my right arm under my ass to stop his cock from going past my vaginal opening on the next push.

Ta-el thrusts again and the sloshing wetness between my thighs is so abundant he's about to glide past once more, but my hand stops it, making it change direction into the path of least resistance. His purring stops abruptly when the tip of his thick cock penetrates my core. My body is not on the same train as my lust and it puts on a clenching, tight, fortification on the sudden intrusion. Ta-el comes to a full stop, not even half way inside. His whole body stiffens and starts to tremble when I feel the first gush of semen jet into my stuffed pussy. It quickly overflows since he wasn't completely seated inside, and most of it pours down on the furs, ruining the bedding. 

He exhales harshly and pulls out when he tilts back. I try to make eye-contact with him, but he looks down on the ground. His head hangs in shame. My heart overflows with emotion when I see him like that. _Oh, my sweet Ta-el!_ I hope he doesn't think he's done something wrong. I sit up and cuddle into his lap, placing my hands on his lower mandibles and tilting his face up at me. I kiss the spot of smooth skin between his eyes and continue to lay down small pecks on his face when he closes his eyes.

I'd lie if I said I was content though. My core is still throbbing and I ride the edge, so close it feels as if a single touch would undo me as well. An idea forms in my mind that I think I would like to try. The only part of him I feel comfortable with to touch my most sensitive spot is hanging sticky and softening between his thighs. His vicious mandibles and raking claws are features I want as far from my clit as possible, but it'd feel very wrong to take care of myself given the circumstances. 

I climb off his lap and sit on my butt, spreading my legs once again and he can't help himself to give me a curious glance. I smile at him, take one of his hands and close his fingers by tucking the claws inside his fist, guiding it down between my legs and letting the knuckles rub against my engorged, throbbing clit. 

Relief starts to flood through my veins as I start to rub myself furiously against his closed fist, as if it were a sex-toy. My thighs quake and shudder as I spread them wider and open up access to a spot that electrifies my entire body. Without reprieve – I've waited so long for this – I teeter on the brink of rapture, before it explodes and galvanizes every fiber of me. I squirt my juices all over his hand.

When I come to, I find Ta-el staring at the panting, flushed mess that is me. He growls and swoops over me. His mandibles clamp down on my neck and keep me immobile while he pushes his knee between my legs and spreads them once more. His cock is already stiff again and is leaking pre-cum on my inner thigh when he starts to purr – loudly - and drives his cock into my core. I cry out with shock, I was _not_ expecting this! 

This time be holds the base to angle it correctly and his tip breaches me on the first try. I grab his shoulders and dig my nails into his thick hide when he drills in deeper, forcing my tight walls to stretch around his girth – to accommodate. I struggle to breathe, his body is weighing heavily on top of mine and I was caught by surprise by his sudden fervor. He suddenly loosens the grip on my neck to straighten and pull back his whole body and I inhale deeply before he slams in again, pushing out the air from my lungs and gaining yet an inch of depth. On the next thrust he brushes past a spot that makes me see stars and he grunts loudly, advancing deeper with every push, bottoming out and stretching me more, until I think I'll be ruined for every other man ever again. All I can do is lie on my back and conform. I doubt he'd even hear or recognize it if I started to protest, his loud purring and grunting would overpower any noise I'd be able to produce, but I don't want him to stop. Every thrust strokes past a place that produces delirium. 

Ta-el dives deeper and I have been stretched enough to take him to the hilt. His rough sheath connects with my clit on each bump, making me mewl like a feline and scratch deep welts into his back with my fingernails. His body is pumping in and out of me in a pace that drives me crazy, I can't foresee when he's gonna hit me next and I feel every movement that rolls over me and pushes me closer to the edge again. The heat generated between our bodies is insane and I have warm furs under me as well, which makes me burn from every angle.

Pleasure is mounting fast – too fast, as every part of him stimulates my sex. I try to hold his hips put with my legs as I come crashing under him, but my muscles have lost connection with my nerve system and everything below my waist is a spasming, pulsating, chaos and my feeble attempts to slow him down are useless as I scream his name in ecstasy and his hips pump furiously against my crotch. 

He thrusts one final time, deep enough to smack into my sensitive cervix, and fills me with hot sticky cum that bursts out in cascades, marinating me with his very essence, before he collapses onto me and rolls to the side when I start to flail my arms hysterically to get air.

We try to get back control over our breaths as the warm air in the room contrasts with my over-heated, sweaty body, causing me to shiver. I curl up against Ta-el and feel his warm body lull me into contented sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember now, this chapter is also NSFW.

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Aa-lii takes my gift and she eats it with relish. Her eyes are half-lidded and I can hear her tongue swirl around inside her closed mouth, occasionally smacking against the palate. Lil-ka! She has accepted so many gifts from me! Does this mean she accepts that I am courting her? The purring starts naturally when I look at her and I release my dai-shui. I pull her close into an embrace and close my eyes, focusing only on her scent and the feel of her skin against mine. When she whispers my name I forget how to breathe and my chest swells involuntarily, arousal floods through my veins, making my blood sing. 

I push her back a bit to keep her from getting hurt when I retract my thermal netting. Now nothing stands between us except our loincloths. She reaches her hand towards me and runs it slowly over my chest. It tickles when she circles her fingers over the quills on my abdomen and I wait eagerly for her to unclasp my loincloth, but I sense her hesitation when she stops her hand just over the buckle. 

“Sei-i.” I hold my hand over hers and help her unclasp it with my other hand. The loincloth falls to the floor and I'm a bit relieved to see that my sheath is still intact and I don't have to make a fool of myself, in case I misread her.

My modesty is however short lived when she moves her lithe hand over my sheath and runs her fingers over the slit. _Paya_, we've done this before, haven't we? I watch her closely, trying my best not to pant like a freak when a finger dips inside, nudging the tip of my swelling manhood. She slips it further inside, studying me attentively, like a scientist. 

Each wretched heartbeat is pumping blood into my now thrumming groin and I find myself choking out a gasp when the pressure overflows and my engorged member starts to descend. Aa-lii stares transfixed at the display in front of her, her hand now stilled against my pelvic bone. I can't help to stare at it myself. It's almost as alien to me as it must be to her. I've only been inconvenienced by stiffness a few times before, always among females in heat that were not interested in me. I hardly recognize it as a part of myself, more as some kind of strange growth.

The sensation is not enjoyable. It feels like an itch, but not quite. There is a dull pain that throbs and gnaws but there is also a strange pleasure. A pleasure that will dwarf the pain if only she would touch me again! Her scent is stronger now, more potent. It adds to my own urgency and makes my dai-shui surge. I can tell it's affecting her as her scent becomes stronger and it feels as if we're stuck inside an infinite feedback loop of arousal. 

It doesn't take long for me to be fully unsheathed. I try to stand with a straight back and not show how nervous I really am. Will she resume where we left off yesterday? I feel my member twitch when I imagine her soft lips around it. What will it feel like to slide inside and loose myself within the hot, wet cave of her mouth? The teeth not vicious in themselves but dangerous enough to take a chunk out of me if she were to choose so. The suspense is draining my fortitude and I know I'm trembling now. I want to say her name, but my mouth has forgotten how to form words. _Please!_

Instead she retracts her hand and moves it to her own loincloth. It clatters to the floor but the only thing I hear is the ringing of blood inside my head. There's nothing there that I haven't seen before but I suppose it's the act of undressing that makes me feel lecherous staring at her naked body.

_Animal pauker_. That's what the others would call me if they knew... But when she takes my hand in hers and leads me to the pile of furs on the floor, I don't care anymore. She lies down on her back with her legs held tightly together. I don't know how long I can keep myself from ravaging her but I also want to enjoy it and make this moment last for as long as I can. 

Aa-lii is breathing heavily. Her chest rises and falls with every hiss of breath and her mammary glands have floated to her sides and flattened slightly when she laid down. I place my hands on either side of her hips and I see her skin curl as I take my time sliding my hands up, over her sides. Her skin in soft and pale under my hands, cool to me, but I can feel it warm up the more I touch her. My member is accidentally poking her thigh when I lean closer. I try not to rub it against her even though the lack of friction is slowly driving me crazy. 

Aa-lii's body is different lying down. Her stomach sunken in, but with a distinct bulge, revealing the outline of her bones, the pelvis, the narrow ribcage. I touch the lowest pair of ribs, sliding my fingertips over the only hard surface on her _pyode_ body. I drink in the vision of her lying almost under me. I want to know and understand every part of her. I touch one of the round globes on her chest and it recoils and sways after I've retracted my finger. Soft, almost like rippling water. I decide to do it again, but when I try it once more she makes a startled sound and I try to look at her face, but I see she has put her hands over it. I won't be able to study her reactions if she covers her face. 

I take her wrists and pull at them gently. “Did I hurt you?” She opens her eyes and her cheeks are filled with blood – why? I touch one and it feels warm. “Why are your cheeks warm?” Her eyes are centered on me, but in the cloudiness of her gaze, I'm not sure what she actually sees. It doesn't matter when she removes my hand and shifts it to encircle one of her fleshy glands. It doesn't feel the way I thought it would. I thought it would be denser, but it's not repulsive. I rather like to squish it with my hand - in a therapeutic way.

When I brush past one of her teats, it becomes erect and constricts itself into a spike. It stands at attention, and by the looks of it, it's sensitive. Aa-lii pants and writhes under my hand, making me want to please her more. I give the teat a good tug, but perhaps I became a bit overzealous. She hisses something and her eyes stares daggers at me, similar to a powerful and temperamental Yautja female. It's a part of her I've seen glimpses of before, but in the context of what we are doing it sends a jolt of need through me. 

I take a deep breath and my voice almost breaks.

“Aa-lii...” Her eyes shoot up to mine.

I try to voice my question in a simple way. “Sei-i?” 

I can tell by the way she furrows her brows and doesn't answer that she doesn't understand. I wedge my hand gently between her thighs and ask her again, this time I try to steady my voice and say it louder. 

“Aa-lii, sei-i?” 

She replies something but I can only make out _Ta-el_, and then she sighs softly and opens her legs. I don't know what I expected to see, the female ooman genitalia is not thoroughly covered in the database, but the pink folds I caught a glimpse of earlier when she was sleeping, opens up as her legs part wider, exposing a flushed, glistening, intricately layered flower. As completely alien as it looks to me, the scent of her arousal grows so potent it awakens an unfamiliar, primal awareness inside of me, even though I've never come this close to a female before. 

Aa-lii props herself up on her elbows and looks at me. It snaps me out from my thoughts and I find myself kneading her legs. My hands tremble when they journey down along the dunes of her inner thighs. I stop just before I reach the center, afraid my claws will hurt her tender flesh. I can't believe Aa-lii wants to mate – with _me_. Not only is she ooman and I'm not, but she is also pregnant. Even her body must know my seed won't take, but still her scent screams _take me_. 

I climb on top of her and look at her face one last time before I sink down. She looks back, deep into my eyes and her lips curve upwards. She doesn't say anything, just bobs her head slightly up and down. _Sei-i – yes, Aa-lii..._ She bucks up impatiently against me, and I'm drawn down as if by a magnet. The sensation of meeting her moist warmth with my member is nothing less than bliss. I pray silently to all my gods, humble, thankful, tremulous me! I pull away and push myself again against the slick, velvety tissue. It aches and every movement gives me relief. I feel waves of pleasure and electricity threatening to ignite my blood. Aa-lii tilts her hips and the next time I buck against her, I feel myself sink halfway in. _Paya_, the tightness and warmth is what undoes me. The sparks I felt lick against my nerve endings are suddenly ablaze and I feel a surge run through me, pulsating and pouring out together with my seed as I spend myself inside Aa-lii. 

I hardly come down before I realize what just happened. Seed is still gushing out of me, spilling on the fur below her. I wanted to give her pleasure, but instead I'm afraid I was the only one that felt any. _Pauk!_

“Aa-lii. I'm.. I'm sorry.” I bow down my head in shame but she surprises me by sitting up and taking my face in her hands, tilting it up to look at her. She says something and her voice sounds soft and soothing. She cuddles up to me and presses her lips on the skin between my eyes. I purr for her, she is mine, I'll do better next time. It's a promise. 

Aa-lii keeps touching my face with her soft, wet lips. Her breath licks me in short, hot puffs whenever her face moves to find another spot to land on. I close my eyes and give in to the sensations around me. Her touch and her scent. I can still smell myself on her. She is marked, and I want to keep marking her as much as I can, for as long as I can. I don't open my eyes until she moves away and sits down in front of me. Her sex unravels when she opens her legs for me again and she is still dripping with our mixed fluids, thick like molasses. 

I can't take my eyes of it, not even when she takes my much larger hand in hers and curls my fingers and claws together into a fist. I let her do as she pleases - _Lil-ka,_ I would let her do anything. She moves my fist towards her and connects it with her genitalia. Her eyelids flutter and close as her mouth turns into an _o_. She paints my hand with her syrup and I don't dare to move a muscle as she starts to roll her hips onto my waiting fist. It doesn't take long until sweet sounds make her throat vibrate. 

My mind boggles when I think of all the wonders this ooman has shown me in just a few days time. The database didn't cover even a smidgen of what I have learned about their race, and I'm still uncovering new curiosities. What is it that allows me to pleasure her with only the knuckles of my hand, without penetration? Because there is no doubt in my mind that it is pleasure that contorts her face and makes her skin weep. I want to hear those noises she makes against my face, with my member buried deep inside her, squeezing me, milking me. Her thighs shudder and I hear her breath hitch, her music! Sei-i, sing for me little ooman! Her body convulses and all the nectar inside her come spattering on my hand, douching me, anointing me. I want to bathe in it!

I'm not sure if my member ever receded into its sheath, or if I became hard again watching my Aa-lii take her pleasure on my hand, but I am painfully stiff again. I will seed her, even if some troglodyte back on the blue planet obviously already has beaten me to it. 

I climb her once again and breach her open, using my member as a battering ram to besiege her and entrench myself inside – always deeper inside, until I'm rutting and taking her - _claiming her_. The ache in my groin is alleviated by each slide, bringing me succor. I didn't even notice that I held her neck between my teeth until my maw flies open in a jarring gasp at a particularly pleasing impact. _This_ is how it's supposed to feel! Completely encapsulated by her molten, silky heat – deeper – as she opens up wide with her legs pulled up against my hips and her moans and cries fill the room and she comes undone beneath me, swathing me. The now familiar tightening sensation is back in my gut, with each thrust it swells and ripples, slowly filling me with heat, until it overflows and spills, in contracting geysers of pleasure, her clenching inner walls are wringing me dry, and it's over far too soon.

All strength and tension in my body pours out together with my seed, leaving me shaky and exhausted. My arms cannot support the bulk of my frame and I collapse on top of my Aa-lii before I notice that I'm smothering her and ungracefully roll off to my side, panting and with eyes half-rolled inside my head.

Aa-lii comes to rest in the crook of my arm, curled up against me with her cheek on my upper arm. The fresh scratch-marks on my back burns in sweet assertion. I can't believe my luck to have her. It happened so fast, I'm scared that it was all a dream. Perhaps Cetanu has already taken me to the other world? These things don't happen to someone like me. Was it wrong to take advantage of the ooman? Maybe, but I hope she is intelligent enough to understand that I would have restrained myself if she had turned me down. _My beautiful, soft, Aa-lii_. I will never cast you aside and none would dare part us.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little birdie told me you guys wanted to give him another chance to get sucked? So...

  
  


~[Malin's POV]~

I must have fallen asleep. The cold, pervasive lighting of the cabin stings my eyes and I squint to adjust them. My throat feels like sandpaper and I untangle myself from the still sleeping Ta-el. I walk on my tiptoes not to wake him when I go to the bathroom. The faucet drizzles cold water in my hands and I drink several handfuls before splashing some on my face. I wish there was a mirror, or perhaps on a second thought I don't... I must look like hell. My shoulder hurts a bit, guess that's what one gets for bedding an alien - a big alien.

A dried crust of body fluids coats my inner thighs and I clean that up too. I must've been really exhausted to sleep in this. I usually hate to go to bed dirty and always take a shower right after. When I come back to the main room Ta-el is awake and he is observing me. His eyes glow faintly in the faded light. He must've dimmed it when I was in the bathroom. Perhaps it's nighttime? I have no idea, there are no windows inside this room. 

I crawl back into bed and Ta-els arms. What's going to happen now? Does this change anything? I still can't communicate with him properly. I can't ask all the questions that still buzz inside my head. Like, are we on a spaceship? If we are, is his home planet close or are we going somewhere else? Will I be locked inside this room forever? 

A soft trill followed by a few clicks snaps me out of my thoughts and I see Ta-el looking at me. His mandibles are resting against his face, a face so dark it's hard to see any details in the dim light except his eyes. I flinch when he touches my shoulder. It would be fine if he could keep his hands away, it's just a little bruise. Hardly any teeth marks. I brush his hand off me and push away his face in a playful manner. My hand stays on his brow and he closes his eyes when I start to caress his large scull. I take care to stay away from his dreads for now, I don't think I could have another round just yet. I'm quite satisfied as it is and my stomach feels too bloated anyway. 

I should be disgusted by his appearance, any normal human being would. I can hardly recall a time when his face frightened me but it's only been a few days really, it feels like more. I touch the tip of one of his tusks. It's sharp as a canine tooth but if I'm careful I can rest my fingertip on it without breaking my skin. I wonder what it would be like to kiss his mouth. The tusks are blocking it quite effectively. It's probably not possible, unless he can open them really wide. 

Yes, his face is familiar to me now. Completely not frightening. Is it a face I could... love? He starts to purr as if he could read my mind, a deep, comforting rumble that weakens me. For fuck's sake, he must know what the purring does to me? _Damn, damn..._

He shifts to lie on his side and starts to mirror what I just did. Sweeping his clawed fingers over my scalp and cheeks, slowing down to circle my lips with the pad of his index-finger. I have to close my eyes. I feel his finger dip inside and explore my teeth. I wouldn't do that to his fangs but I guess we humans aren't very threatening. My eyes snap open when he suddenly plunges the finger inside, almost to the back of my throat. 

I jerk my head backwards and his finger retracts instantly, his purring gets louder. 

“You can't just push it inside my mouth like that, Ta-el!” I scold him.

He looks at me and tilts his head to the side. Of course he doesn't understand, that's something all males have in common. Thick sculled, single minded, have to give them instructions on everything – sigh. I take his hand and suck the finger inside, swirl the tip of my tongue under his finger, but very much mindful of his claw. Oh, is that what you want, huh? His eyes are fixated on my mouth and I can't help to feel a little – a lot - pleased with myself. His mandibles twitch and open up as I continue to suck on his finger. They are not wide enough for a kiss – no, that's too bad. Guess I'll have to put my mouth to some other use...

I use my tongue to push his finger out and sneak a peek down to his crotch. Ta-el's already half-out of his sheath, perhaps he's picking up on things? Still, I don't want a rerun of the last time so I have to make sure I don't surprise him again. I place my hand on his shoulder and push him to lie on his back again, letting my hand drift south – slowly, to give him time to stop me. 

His purr starts to stutter when I go past his clenched abs and reach the gnarled hide of his sheath. He sounds like a sour, old boat engine, making my heart melt. How is it possible to be so damn cute and smell so freaking good? I rest my hand on his skin, looking for some kind of hint on where to go from here. His eyes are trained on my hand and I can't be sure if he is shuddering from anticipation or something else. I move up again, craning my neck to put my face in front of his and kiss his jaw. His eyes move to look at my face, making me almost forget what I'm doing. They are so deep – golden yellow, honey sweet... 

No, I can't be distracted. I'm a woman on a mission now. I move back down and stroke him feather light over the top of his sheath and he flinches when I touch the base of his cock. I wonder if his kind ever touch each other like this, but judging by his reactions I guess they don't. It's the first time for me too – to touch an alien cock like this. I move my hand closer and try to snake my fingers around his girth, but I can't. I start to slide my hand up, probably too lightly, but I don't want to scare him away. It's sticky and warm, feverish to a human, but perhaps not to him. He seems to have a higher normal body temperature.

While his hide is thick on the rest of his body, the surface of his red, sprouting cock is nothing but a thin membrane. There's no foreskin to play with, just swollen, hard, gland, already lubricated from within his sheath. I hear him swallow hard when I trace the bumps on his ventral side. I try to count them as I go further up. It's like a perverted version of Braille, and I imagine what it would feel like to be taken by him from behind, with those nodules massaging my g-spot... Some other time, I can't digress. 

I open my hand and trace the edge of his glans with my fingertips. The tip is less alien than the rest, slightly flared with a slit that drips with more lubrication. Nature doesn't give up on a winning concept I guess. I look up at his face again. He looks on the verge of rolling me to the floor, his arms are rooted stiffly to his sides, every muscle contracted and tense. I hurry to kiss his chest before he decides to act on his own, letting my tongue dart over and between the fibrous cords of musculature. He leans forward and draws back his arms to keep track of what I'm doing, no doubt. 

His skin is tasteless and dry, like crackers. There's not a trace of body fat anywhere on him. Without the muscles he would look emaciated. I can't help to feel tense and expect to be tossed again. Why am I even trying this, it's masochistic. Ta-el chitters something at me, his mandibles flare and knit together. I debate internally whether I should take it as encouragement or not, until he puts his hand on my head and pushes it down, making all my doubt melt away. 

I take the base of his dripping, wet cock in my hand and stick out my tongue as far as I can, creating a show for him as I dip my head down to lick the fluid from the tip. The purring stops abruptly and I give him a long lick from root to tip. When I swallow I taste the slightly salty, familiar flavor of masculinity and I can't help to smile. It's comforting and makes me feel relieved that the taste is something I can abide. My confidence is boosted even more when I hear him growl quietly as I trace my tongue along the rim between the tip and the shaft. 

The skin is so thin, it must be very sensitive. I try not to chip it with my front teeth as I suck the glans inside my mouth and snake my tongue along the frenulum. I hold it put with my hand half-circling the base as I move my lips up and down over the tip of his cock and revel in the sputtering breaths and groans he makes for me. Ta-el's head is still craned forward, mandibles flared wide and his eyes are on my mouth, not even seeing me look at him. 

His hand is still tangled in my dreads, crushing them between his claws. When I sink down and suck him inside my mouth once more his hand follows down with me, and puts gentle pressure on my head to slide my mouth down further along his shaft. I feel my teeth nudge the dorsal side of his cock and I pray that it won't scare him. Because of that I don't dare to take him in fully. I wouldn't be able to fit it all inside anyway. Instead I squeeze the shaft softly and start to massage it in time with my sucking. 

Ta-el looses his grip on my hair and lays his arm back to his side. He bucks his hips up to meet my mouth and his head falls back on the furs. His mandibles are still open and so is his mouth, sucking in a deep breath that makes his chest swell and his lower back lift slightly. I place my hands on his thighs and push him down, at the same time I swallow him again and move my head back up. I inhale his sweet musk and try not to think about the sticky wetness pooling between my thighs. I don't even want sex!

I stroke him faster as I focus on sucking and massaging the glans with my tongue. Even when I try to keep him still he manages to thrust up into my mouth. His body is shaking from restraint and he is panting shallowly and rapidly. Ta-el grips the furs in his fists and whines. I keep sucking him relentlessly until his cock swells even more and the muscles in his abdomen clench and his arms are spasming. My drool drips down over the shaft, lubricating it when I jerk him off and spills down over his sheath and on the furs between his legs. Suddenly he stops to breathe and becomes rigid as a board. A ripple runs through his shaft, exploding in the waiting chasm of my throat and I swallow gush after gush of his bitter wine until there is no more and his body becomes slack and drops down to the bedding. 

I crawl back up to his side and nuzzle my head to his chest, feeling it rise and abate as his breathing slows down, constant and heavy, like a speed ramped tide. I almost fall back to sleep when he rolls me off him to my back. He hovers over me with his knees on either side of my legs. His tongue slithers out from his mouth, wagging in the air, almost tasting it, as a snake would. He retracts it back into his mouth and his mandibles click together. I recognize the growling sounds he makes as speech but as usual, the only thing I can make out from it is something about _Aa-lii_.

Ta-el moves one of his knees to fit in the space between my legs and then he crowds me with the other, forcing me to open up. I was hoping it was enough to get sucked! He ghosts his face over my chest and stomach, his tongue snakes out to circle my skin and I feel his tusks scratch me when he moves. He journeys lower and grabs the back of my thighs with his hands, opening my sex up completely. No! I don't want this! His mandibles are almost touching my pubic hair and I shout out in terror. There is nothing but sharp fangs and even sharper horns and quills on his face. The thought of him slicing up my snatch with one of his tusks is enough to turn me into celibacy for the rest of my life. 

I swat him away with my hands and bark at his face. “No! No! No!”

He backs off enough to let me close my legs and stares at me with his gleaming, yellow eyes. 

I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them while I glare at him. Ta-el snorts and stands up quickly, making his dreads rustle about his head. He turns around and picks up his loincloth from the floor and dresses. He gives me a glare and strides to the exit, only to come to a full stop in front of the doors.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Guess I'm exposed now. I only came up with this story to write weird-ass smut.

  
  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

I wake up with a start when my body realizes that Aa-lii is gone, but relax when I hear water running in the other room. She must be washing up. The pelt below me is still slightly damp and there's a stain there that sticks the fur together in rigid lumps. I won't be able to clean it with anything on the ship so I toss it aside. Luckily there are a lot of them. I dim the lighting before Aa-lii comes back by turning a dial on my wrist gauntlet. It's late anyway and I'm not expected to be back at the lab. I couldn't care less about what Neh'seai is doing right now, but I have an inkling.

Aa-lii comes back, beads of water reflect on her soft skin and the clips in her hair rattles slightly when she moves. I can't help to admire the curves of her hips and chest as she walks towards me, remembering how it felt to drown in her softness. She cuddles up in my arms and I don't think I could be in a better place. 

Everything feels perfect until I take a look down at her and notice the big, purple, angry bruise on her left shoulder and neck. _Pauk!_ I had no idea I was so rough with her! There are teethmarks and dents from my tusks. If someone were to do a forensic examination on her it would point straight to the culprit – me. 

Her mind seems to be aeons away as I watch her stare at the ceiling. Paya, I hope she doesn't regret mating with me. The bruising on her shoulder would suggest it was the wrong choice, even though I've heard of others of my kind brag about their mating scars. They weren't fragile, like oomans. I should have shown more self-restraint!

“Does this hurt?” When I touch her shoulder with the flat of my hand she flinches and swats my hand away. Her hand moves up to my face and she shoves it back. I take the hint and let her push me. I expect her to scold me, but instead she starts to caress the top of my head. It doesn't feel very much, but it doesn't bother me either. I'm grateful she doesn't touch my tresses because I'm too exhausted to mate. 

Aa-lii stops to fondle my head, instead her hand travels down to a mandible. She rubs the tip with her finger. This fascination she always seems to have with my face is disconcerting. I don't know how to show affection in an ooman way. Ever since we started this ...thing... her soft, fat lips are always on me. Tasting and probing, sending moist clouds of female aromatics straight into my sensory organs. 

Admittedly, I hardly know anything, but I'm willing to learn. I drop to my side to reach her better, not even realizing that I've started to purr. I touch her strange hair and feel the outline of her scull-bone underneath the scalp. Her head is so small. It's smaller than a suckling's, yet she shows more intelligence than animals with many times more brain-mass. 

I continue down until I'm touching her cheek. It's not warmer than the rest of her anymore, but still as soft as I remembered. Oomans look curious with their noses and shallow eyes, they all look the same to me, but I guess they must think the same about us. I study Aa-lii attentively, imprinting every detail of her face into my memory until I could pick her out among thousands of oomans. 

My hand glides toward her lips. I rub my finger over the swollen, wet, cushions framing her mouth, that can make sounds no Yautja could ever pronounce and that can mold to my face in sticky, cold, titillation. I remember they could also mold around ...other things. It's just that little detail about _the teeth_. My finger dips inside easily between her parted lips, so ready to part those fat, succulent lips. I prod her gums and the lower row of small, blunt teeth. They don't feel sharp enough to hurt, but they don't feel very nice either. The teeth on her upper jaw are larger, but it's made up for by her inner molars, that although bumpy, doesn't really feel all that dangerous. 

I push my finger deeper inside, eager to find out what the back of her throat feels like, but she rears back with her head and expels it. Aa-lii glares at me fiercely and chides something. I don't think I hurt her, but it wouldn't be the first time I've misconstrued something. I purr louder and try to figure out what she wants me to do, but before I can decide, she takes my finger and puts it back in her mouth. 

Aa-lii sucks on my finger. Her tongue dances and writhes around it, agile and treacherous. The look in her eyes sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. She is toying with me! She sucks my finger in and out of her mouth, her scent is blossoming and I find myself wishing for her again. The warm sensation I've been feeling grows and coils around my innards. It teases and provokes a very much physical response that threatens to expand and overflow the confines of my flesh. 

She looks down on the loosening slit of my sheath and I see her lips do that peculiar upward curve before she puts a firm hand on my chest and guides me down. I'm lying flat on my back, every nerve ending on my skin is on fire – I'm nervous! 

Her hand travels down over my chest and stomach and every muscle in my body tightens. My head is throbbing in unison with my swelling member when her hand reaches my sheath, and then she stops – why does she stop?! Aa-lii removes her hand and climbs over me. She does that mouth-contact thing on me and looks deep into my eyes. Her pupils are dilated, almost black. Looking into them is like looking into space, I see nebulae of stars and ionized nitrogen particles, licking the edges of her ocular corona in surging tempests. _Aa-lii_.

Suddenly she is down at my lower parts again. Her hand has resumed to stroke my sheath, teasingly, I can't feel a thing there! When she finally touches my member the contact triggers a response in me that resembles electric shock. I jolt, quite involuntarily, and it feels like every muscle in my body is ready to betray me at a moment's notice. I try to predict what she's going to do next, because I don't like to be powerless. At the same time there's something thrilling about lying on my back and being submissive, letting her do what she wants to my body. 

Her hand wraps around and almost encircles my pulsating shaft, as if she's studying and measuring it. My hearts are beating in a frenzied duel, invigorating my limbs, but I don't want to move and everything inside me contracts and tightens to fight the urge to _move_. Her soft and clever fingers continues to explore me and travels up over a place that is extremely sensitive and I almost groan, but I manage to swallow it down. 

Her delicate fingers now stroke my tip, circling, teasing, they are pauk-de too light. I don't know how long I can stay still! She removes her hand, and starts to press her lips to my chest. She moves down agonizingly slow, but she moves none the less. My curiosity is outweighing my need to rut her, but it's balancing on a knife's edge. I prop myself up on my elbows to better keep an eye on her.

Her journey south seems to stop somewhere shy of my pubic bone and I can't stand the wait any longer. Just bite the cjit thing off if that's what you're going to do!

“Do it. Or I don't know what's going to happen!” I bury my claws in her tresses and push her head down to hover so close to my member, I can feel her breath blowing against the tip. 

Aa-lii takes it in her hand once again and her tongue reclines and dips against my urethra. Her tongue runs over the length of me - _CJIT, this is completely s'yuit-de!_ What will I do when she bites it clean off and eats it! I don't even have any tranquilizers here. The icy claw of terror grips around my spine and I almost fling her back across the room again. I wouldn't be able to explain to the medics what happened – “Nnngggh!” 

Bristling heat charges through my body as she licks and tastes my most sensitive parts. Then her greedy mouth descends over me, engulfing my aching tip in her wet, hot, wet, _aaaah_. She is eating my – I can't believe this is how oomans – Lil-ka! She sucks it inside her mouth and tightens her lips around it as she spits it out, only to slide it back inside again. She is pauking me with her mouth!

Pleasure is rushing through my veins and travels to a place inside my gut that coils and flares. With every bob of her head it sinks down deeper into her sultry cave until I can feel the roof of her mouth and her blunt teeth scrape me. The pleasure and horror of the act captivates me and I stare at her mouth – entranced. Saliva is dripping, mixing with my own fluids, running down my shaft. 

My arms are shaking and I need to put the hand that was on her head aside to prevent an accident. Aa-lii uses her mouth and hands on me to stimulate me fully and it feels like I'm falling down a vortex of fluorescent electricity. I can't keep myself upright and crash down onto the furs with a sharp hiss. There are too many sensations on me and I need to close my eyes to keep my sanity. I can feel my hips thrust and my claws are tearing at the furs below me, but I am not in control of my body. 

_AaaaahhhI don't deserve this!_ I collected her from her habitat, kept her prisoner – I still am! What would happen if she ever finds out that I'm the reason she was captured?

White, hot ecstasy pulls the thought out of my head and there is a strange pitched sound that I can't find the source of. My breath comes in shallow, rattling huffs. The blood in my arteries surge like rapids, swirling and striking against raw, howling insides. The sensation thickens and expands, it coats and covers me, it disrupts my lungs and I liquefy and pour out in rhythmic thunderbolts until the percussion of my fire slows down and I get back authority over my limbs.

As time passes my breathing slows down and deepens. I notice that Aa-lii's musk is filling the air and I want to draw in every particle into my lungs. I want to taste her on my tongue, as she has done with me. With return vigor, I roll her to her back and pose myself above her, she smells so good!

I open my maw and let the sweet air surrounding her bounce against my tongue. It's not enough for me, I want to bury it inside and explore her, find that place that makes her mewl.

“Let me return the favor, Aa-lii?”

I use my knees to open her up. Aa-lii can't hide her arousal from me, her body doesn't lie. I trail my tongue over her upper body, the thin, soft skin, until I'm almost at my destination and I grab her thighs and spread them wide. I'm treated to a banquet of intercellular delicacies. 

“No! No! No!” She cries out and I startle.

Aa-lii shoves me away and scolds me. _No_ \- I can guess what that word means when her voice is so sharp. When I back off she curls up on herself like a clam.

This is s'yuit-de! I let her taste me and now she won't let me taste her? This is how she repays my complete surrender and trust in her – by not trusting me in return? _Pauk all females!_

I snag my loincloth and put it on.

I'm on my way out the door when I remember that the others must notice that I reek of ooman. Leaving the cabin without washing myself would be a huge mistake. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. Even if I'm a bit hurt I can see her side of it. I wouldn't want a Yautja to taste me either if the tables were turned.

The doors whoosh open and I almost have a cardiac arrest until I see that it's just the cleaning bot – Wait... Why is there a cleaning bot when I canceled the service?


	17. Chapter 17

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

The small cleaning-bot rolls inside soundlessly and starts to sweep the floor. The doors to the cabin begin to close but before they can do so, a brown hand with long, black claws pushes between them and stops the automatic closing mechanism. When the doors halt another hand joins the first and they pry the doors open forcefully. 

With a graceful leap that makes her tresses whirl around her head, Neh'seai breaks into my cabin. The doors close behind her with their regular whoosh-sound. She stops in front of them and her eyes flicker to me, then to Aa-lii and then back to me again. 

“I _knew_ you were a deviant!” She takes a step forward and her body shakes in anger when she takes a deep breath and her eyes gleam with hatred and disgust. “You pauked an ooman!”

I automatically take a couple of steps back to keep my distance from her. My mandibles flare and my hearts race inside my chest. Adrenaline instantly fills my body. I don't know how to answer her accusation, my fight or flight instincts are demanding a decision. Somehow I still manage to find my voice to ask her. “How did you know she was here?” 

“You lied to the captain!” Neh'seai's voice is a low hiss and her eyes bore into mine as she takes another step towards me. 

Now when everything crumbles around me, I need to know how it was possible for her to be so sure that I was hiding the ooman in my cabin. “Did you see the surveillance footage from the lab?”

“What?” Neh'seai stops and looks confused for a moment. Then she clicks her mandibles and straightens her back. “I shut down the camera when I set the u'darahje free. There was no footage.” Her smug voice drops an octave at the last part. 

“Then how did you know!” I cry out and start to back away again.

”Call it female intuition.” Neh'seai begins to circle me. She hisses, “Once I tell the captain, you will wish that both of you were put inside the incinerator.” She presses a button on her wrist gauntlet and something inside me snaps.

I lunge myself at her and try to claw her throat open, but she sees me coming and parries my attack with the hand she was using to dial. Her counter-attack is swift and merciless. A strong fist punches me in my side while my arm is still locked together with her dialing-arm. A flash of pain adds more adrenalin to my already seething blood. I roar at her and try to kick her leg, but she is much taller than me and I lack the reach. 

Neh'seai laughs and takes another swing at me, this time it hits me in the head and I fall backwards. She is on me even before my body hits the floor. Her growl echoes in my ears and I know that this is the end for me. Her hands wrap around my neck and she squeezes, her claws sink into my skin. 

**Bang!** Neh'seai loosens the grip on my throat and whips her head to her left. I don't have time to see what happened, this is my only chance! I pull her over myself and both of us tumble into a somersault that has her flying head first onto the floor, and I make a back-flip and end up on top of her.

I slash at her throat and bright green blood splatter in the air, but it's not deep enough to do her any real damage and she bucks her body up, making me loose my balance. She claws at my chest, her talons dig deep into my hide and I roar in pain. My blood drips on her and the scent of our fluids makes the air bristle in frenzied primordial instinct, if I weren't already wrung dry I would have become aroused. 

Neh'seai punches me hard in the chest and I fly backwards and land on my back. She is above me in a heartbeat and her hands resume their previous endeavor of keeping my lifeblood from reaching my brain. I feel a dizziness coming on and the edges of my vision begin to blacken. I hear a shrill scream in the background and suddenly I get head-butted when Neh'seai's scull crash into my brow. Her blood pours out in spurts all over my face and I get it into my eyes and inside my mouth. The taste is savory and bitter. 

I push Neh'seai's limp body from me and rub the blood from my eyes. Aa-lii is standing in front of me, her eyes are black with rage and her chest heaves in a harsh panting breath. She is holding a serrated metal pipe in her hands, the end is dripping with fluorescent, green blood. Behind her the remnants of the smashed cleaning-bot is scattered on the floor.

Aa-lii says something and she reaches her hand out to me. I take it and try to pull myself up, but she is too weak and falls down on me, making a shrill hacking sound. Her eyes are leaking water and she buries her face in the nook of my neck. I sense her distress and start to purr for her while I tug her closer to me. We are both covered in blood. Neh'seai lies lifeless in a puddle of her own blood. I can't fix this, we're doomed. 

I rise and drag Aa-lii up with me, pulling her after me to the bathroom and we clean ourself up to the best of our abilities with water and the healing ointment. It's only a matter of time before others will notice Neh'seai's absence. We need to leave the ship, the problem is, I don't have access to the hangar and the scout ships have trackers. There is however someone that does have access. It's my only chance. 

“Come on killer, we need to move.” Aa-lii stops to rub the ointment on me and looks up at my face. She follows me out into the main room and I dial the number on my gauntlet.

“Hey Tak! What up?”

“Could you come to my cabin immediately? I need help, and I don't know who else to ask.” My voice trembles and he must've noticed, because it becomes quiet at the other end. A few life-long moments later he answers me.

“I was getting ready for bed ...but... yeah, sure.”

The call ends and I look at the body on the floor again. _Pauk!_

  
  


~[Malin's POV]~

He can't seriously be mad at me for not wanting to get sliced up by his face-claws? A little appreciation, is that too much to ask for? I grit my teeth at him and return his glare. He is just about to walk out from the cabin when the doors open and all hell breaks loose.

The large, scary alien jumps inside like jack-in-the-box and trills at Ta-el. The atmosphere in the room is hostile and the aliens chitter in their language whilst moving deeper into the room. When the large alien starts to circle Ta-el I try to scatter back into the room to get away from them. 

Suddenly Ta-el jumps on the bigger alien and they start to fight. I look around the room for something to defend myself with, but there's nothing except his mask and the pile of furs on the floor. Everything remotely useful is in the locked craft-room. I'm about to hide in the bathroom when I see Ta-el being strangled by the other alien. If he dies I'll be next, no matter where I try to hide. 

The cleaning-bot stops right in front of me and turns 90º, before it continues sweeping. I quickly pick the thing up and throw it on the floor. It drops with a clattering sound and parts scatter in every direction. I pick up a metal tube and turn towards the fighting couple. 

Ta-el has the upper hand on the other, but his chest is bleeding and the big alien throws a punch that has him flying off them and on his back. Ta-el is loosing the fight and I see him beginning to give up when I start to run towards them with the pipe in my hand. I scream and pounce on the big one, the pipe in my hand punctures the hide on the throat of the assailant, and green, florescent blood starts to spray as the alien falls down on top of Ta-el.

He pushes the dead body off him and I can only stare at him while my heart is hacking away inside my chest and every muscle and nerve inside my body is humming. Ta-el is completely covered in blood. 

“I didn't think that would work!” I reach out my hand to help him up. “Kinda feel like MacGyver here. Yeah... you don't know who that is.” He takes my hand and pulls me down over him. I get smeared with blood and the adrenaline gets washed out with relief over the fact that we're both alive. I have the same reaction I always have when I'm shocked, I start to laugh – hysterically. Tears are spraying all around and I curl myself up against Ta-el, not even caring about all the blood. He purrs for me and everything else fades into nothing. It's just him and me.

Eventually we get up and clean ourselves in the bathroom. We probably use up half the ship's water supply but a good thing with not having any clothes on is that there aren't any to wash. I help dress Ta-el's wounds with the salve. It will scar, just as the one he has on his thigh from when he fought the pussy-spider. I have the same pink droplets on my right arm, but his are deeper. He trills at me when I run my fingers over the old scar and walks out of the bathroom. I follow him and see him call someone on the wrist gauntlet as I put on my loincloth.

It doesn't take long before there's a beeping sound coming from the door panel and Ta-el presses his hand to the plate. The doors open and a dark green alien with black patterns walks inside. It stops and stares at the body on the floor and Ta-el engages in a conversation with them that ends with both of them leaving the cabin and I'm alone - with the corpse.


	18. Chapter 18

~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

We don't have to wait long before Ua-O'stun is requesting entry at the other side of the cabin doors. I unlock them to let him inside and he immediately sees Neh'seai lying lifeless in a puddle of blood.

“I know this looks bad. She-I-had-no-choice!” I start to panic and the words jumble together when I try to get eye-contact with my friend, but he is too occupied with staring at my dead colleague. “She would have killed us!”

Ua-O'stun finally looks at me and his surprise turns into confusion. “Wait. You need to tell me from the beginning, Tak. I don't know what the pauk you are talking about.”

I tell him everything that has happened; how I captured Aa-lii from the blue planet, about Neh'seai's jealousy, the lies to the captain and that I have grown fond of the ooman specimen.

Ua-O'stun listens quietly and his eyes grow wider the more I tell him. He looks behind me at Aa-lii and then back to me. “You mated with one of your specimens?” He sounds incredulous and looks intently at Aa-lii. “But she is so... small.” 

“Please, we don't have much time. We've been through a lot together, I'm asking you as a friend, will you help me one last time?” I've never begged another of my kind before, this is as pleading as I can get without dropping on my knees and pressing my forehead to the floor. 

Ua-O'stun moves his gaze from Aa-lii and stares at the wall behind her. I can practically hear the gears turn inside his head. The moments stretch into an eternity where the only sound I hear is the throbbing pulse in my head, until his eyes snap to me. 

“All right. I'll help you.” It came out of his mouth so easily, such simple words, yet they were the most beautiful words I've ever heard. 

The hint of jest that always seems to lace his voice is gone. “We need to get you a ship. Gather everything you need and meet me at the hangar. We stock it first and then you can get back here and bring your ooman.” Ua-O'stun starts to turn towards the door.

I put my hand on this shoulder and squeeze it lightly. “Thank you.” Ua-O'stun stops to look back at me and puts his hand on my shoulder for a short while. Then we leave the cabin together, but he takes a right down the corridor and I take a left. There's a crate with fruit in the larder that I partially empty and fill with meat and water. I take a detour past the laboratory, pick up a bag with medical equipment and try to walk casually down to the docking bay. 

Ua-O'stun climbs down from a scout ship. He takes the crate from my hands and stores it in the back. 

“I programmed the ship to respond to your wrist gauntlet and obfuscated the tracking-signal. Sorry to say I couldn't disable it completely. Tak, be careful, the enforcers can still see you on the radar if you get within range. This will only prevent them to track your flight data from the clan ship.” 

“I will never be able to repay you. Thank you.” I put my hand on his shoulder again and press my brow to his. As he mimics the gesture, I pull up my other hand and plunge the syringe I was hiding into his neck. His eyes shoot up and his mandibles slacken as his knees give up from under him and he collapses onto the floor.

I drag him to a side room and remove his wrist gauntlet. _Sorry friend_. I can't let them find out he helped me of his own free will. Ua-O'stun will wake up in a couple of hours and then Aa-lii and I will hopefully be light hours away. I stash his gauntlet in the back of the ship, pick up a folded cover and hurry back to the cabin.

Aa-lii is sitting on the bed, far away from the corpse. I show her the covering I brought from the hangar and she blinks and curls together into a ball. That's my good girl. I wrap her in it loosely and pick up the bundle. Luckily we don't run into anybody on our way to the hangar and I deposit her in the co-pilot seat of the scout ship.

A scout ship is easy to fly as long as one has full access to the fight computer. It's just a matter of programming in a destination and pressing a few buttons, everything else is automatic. The ship levitates to the hatch and the inner doors to the airlock close. Once the room has been de-pressurized the outer hatch opens and the ship glides out soundlessly into space. 

I set the speed to maximum and the computer calculates the trip to take 14 light hours. The smaller scout ships are a lot faster than a clan ship and a trip that takes the bigger ship a week to make doesn't even take a cycle with the smaller vessel. I keep my eyes on the radar to look out for pursuers, but Aa-lii stares out into space with her mouth wide open. Right, she has probably never been to space. I chuckle and put my arm around her shoulders as the ship zips past stars and nebulae.

  
  


~[Malin's POV]~

Ta-el comes back with a thin cover. He spreads it out and I understand what he wants me to do. I roll myself into a ball and he puts the cover over me and picks me up. Just like old times, huh? He walks me through the corridor into a room that's colder than the rest of the rooms I've been in. Ta-el puts me down and when he uncovers me, I see a huge room filled with space ships. He takes me to one in the front and places me in one of the chairs. 

The ship lifts almost as soon as he has seated himself. I didn't know he was a pilot as well! We fly into a compartment that closes behind us before we are expelled out into space. _Space!_ I had my suspicions we were on a space ship, but nothing could prepare me for the truth of it. We glide through the most beautiful scenery with brightly colored celestial bodies, and then the ship makes a jump and all the stars around us stretch out into bright lines as we speed through the galaxy.

Ta-el has his arm around me and I notice he is watching me instead of keeping his eyes on the controls. I wonder where he is taking us. A part of me hopes it's back home to Earth but another part of me hopes it's someplace different. A place were we can be together without people butting into our business and trying to split us up. 

I turn my head towards the hand on my shoulder and kiss it before I turn the other way and look at Ta-el. I smile at him and he clicks his mandibles. His soft eyes roam my face and I stand up and move to sit on his lap instead. When I'm settled he starts to purr and wraps his arms around me. I'm surrounded by his warmth and space unravels in front of us.

  


***

  


As nice as it is to spend time with Ta-el in cramped spaces and eat the same juicy fruit I have eaten the past week, I feel excited when the ship slows down and we start to pass giant gas planets, blue ones and even larger orange ones. We pass through an asteroid belt but manage to not get hit by a single pebble and then I see a red planet and we start to approach another blue one. The ship slows down even more and I recognize Earth. Ta-el is looking at the instruments on the dashboard and adjusts something. We glide down through the atmosphere and I see trees and a lake. The ship lands in a forest and Ta-el stands up and opens the door. 

Ice cold air hits my half-naked body and I start to clatter my teeth. Ta-el looks at me and goes in the back of the ship. When he comes back he has the mask on and a fur in his arms that he wraps around my shoulders. He takes my hand and guides me down the ramp. The ground is as cold as the air, and I tap my feet to make as little contact with it as I can, while Ta-el pushes something on his gauntlet that makes the ship disappear. 

Ta-el picks me up over his shoulder and starts to sprint through the forest. He runs for several minutes until we come to a clearing and he puts me down. I see lake Bemidji in the background and I look at Ta-el. “You took me home?” I can't believe it. I'm home! But I immediately start to worry about where I'm going to put Ta-el. I need to get a bigger apartment if I'm going to house him, a house in the country maybe...

Ta-el chirps and brings me out of my reverie. He removes his mask and looks at me with his honey, yellow eyes. In a few seconds he is in front of me and pulls me into a tight embrace. His dreads fall around my head and his body vibrates in a loud purr. I can't understand his clicking noises. He says my name and I get all warm inside. “Ta-el...”

He breaks the hug and puts his mask back on. I reach out my hand to take his and take him home, but instead of taking it, he grabs my loincloth and unclasps it. It unwinds and he holds it in his hand while I'm left completely naked except for the sheep? -fur around my shoulders. “Hey!” He trills and lowers his head, then he disappears as suddenly as the ship did. Where did he go? 

“Ta-el!” I spin around, but I can't see him anywhere. “TA-EL!!!” I start to run back to where we came from, screaming his name. “TA-EL!!! Don't leave me!” It takes me longer to run than it did for him. I don't know if I even found the right spot, there's no ship in sight. He's gone. _HE IS GONE!_ I fall into a heap on the ground and sob, heartbroken, not even caring about the freezing cold.

  
  


~[Tak'aetl's POV]~

Aa-lii is captivated by the beauty of cosmos. I don't even remember a time when space wasn't unremarkable to me. Many of my people are born on clan ships in the middle of space. Seeing stars up close like this must be inconceivable for a primitive race such as hers. I put my arm around her and she keeps staring into space until she notice me looking at her and she puts her soft lips to my hand. 

She bares her teeth at me, a gesture I've come to appreciate as it tells me she is content. Aa-lii moves to sit on my lap and who am I to object to such intimacy? I gather her closer to me and start to purr, our last hours together should be pleasant. Enforcers are probably on their way after us already. If they find us they will kill us both without mercy, kill the pup inside her belly as well. I can't let them do that. It's my fault she's in this mess with me, but they don't know she's alive. The only one that knows is Ua-O'stun. If I take her home and leave before they catch me, she'll be safe. 

The few hours we have left go by too quickly, like sand through fingers. We reach her solar system exactly on schedule. The radar is telling me we aren't pursued and I slow the ship down so that Aa-lii can see the planets caught in orbit around her sun. Her face lights up when she recognizes her blue planet and I ready the ship for landing on the coordinates that were stored in the central flight log of the clan ship. 

It's even colder on the surface than before. When I open the hatch, I notice Aa-lii is shivering and her teeth are hacking. I go in the back and fetch a fur for her and my bio-mask. The fur is made from an animal from this planet, it's best that way. I help her out from the ship and pick her up on my shoulder once I've activated the cloak to hide the ship. 

I run towards the same spot I caught her in, near the lake. She should be able to get home from there. I don't want to draw this out. The enforcers will find me soon. When I reach the coordinates I put her down to say farewell. 

“This is the spot.” Aa-lii's eyes whip to me and I remove my mask so she can see my face. I can't bare it and tug her close to me, inhaling deep huffs of her scent, in a vain attempt to store some of it with me once I'm gone. “They will hunt me. I'm a bad blood now. Aa-lii, I'm so sorry for everything.” The words die on my tongue and I can't express anything more. There's a lump in my throat that keeps me from making sounds, she won't understand anyway. I let her go and she reaches out her hand to me – so innocent. I pull off her loincloth (can't let the oomans get their hands on Yautja technology). 

“Be safe.” I activate the cloak and Aa-lii spins around in a useless attempt to find me. She calls out my name in anguish and it feels as if my lungs are being ripped out from my body. I can't watch her and I run as fast as I can back to the ship. I never remove the cloak and I never look back. The scout ship ascends into the stratosphere and out into space. I fly past this solar system and the next. In the middle of a solar system with twin stars that slowly devour each other, a geomagnetic storm halts my progression. Once I've maneuvered past it, two red dots start to flicker on my radar. They are closing in on me. The com system is silent, but I know what those ships are. When I meet Cetanu I will have nothing to be ashamed of. We will hunt together in the Other world and I know my Aa-lii will be safe. I plot a course straight forward and watch the dots move closer to my ship on the screen.

  


####  **Epilogue**

**Bemidji state park, two years later**

  
  


~[Malin's POV]~

The clear night sky brings in crisp, cold air over lake Bemidji from the Canadian border. I stir with my stick in the dying embers of our fire. Stella is already asleep inside the tent and this will probably be her last camping trip for the year, but not mine.

I've come out to the national park almost every weekend to look at the sky and wait for Ta-el to come back. The stars are not as bright in the city, but out here I can see almost as many as I did up there with him. It makes me feel closer to him and a part of me haven't yet given up, perhaps he'll come back someday.

That day he left me I went to the police and reported a kidnapping. They wanted to do a rape examination on me but I refused and had to listen to my family nag about it for months afterwards. I told them a man had locked me inside a cellar somewhere. I couldn't tell them the truth, Bemidji is a small town and I don't want to be the crazy 'abducted by aliens'-girl.

Richard took the pregnancy well. He comes and sees Stella as much as he can, but it's a long trip from San Fransisco and he can't get off work as much as he would like to. We try to spend the holidays together with our families since we're still good friends, at least until one of us finds a new relationship.

I still wear the dreadlocks to my mother's big horror, but I've taken off the beads. Most of them are inside a little box on my nightstand but I've also cut off a couple of dreads and hanged them in the trees near the lake, so he knows I'm still waiting for him.

Stella whimpers inside the tent and I open the zipper to check on her. She's sleeping and her eyes are moving under the lids. I wonder what she would say if I told her that she was the first fetus up in space? Perhaps I'll tell her when she is older. 

I look up on the stars one last time. I've done a bit of research once I came back and learned the name of a few constellations. The pole star winks at me from Ursa Minor. South of it, it's bigger brother is twinkling brightly. I wink back at them and climb inside the tent where I turn on my flashlight to get ready for bed. Who knows what tonight has I store for me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to say – it's The End - but don't hate me and despair. Even if a nerd against two enforcers is bad odds, it's not hopeless. Anecdotal evidence? Aeryn and John managed to get pieced back together by the eidelons when they were blasted to smithereens, even the baby survived (albeit inside Rygel's stomach), so there's always a chance! [Ah, Farscape, best sci-fi show ever.]
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading, and don't forget to comment on your way out!


End file.
